Pharaoh's Unknown Child
by THIboxNK
Summary: COMPLETE. This story is Dramaromance YamiTea until chapter 17, where it changes to humorromance I ain't tell who. There is some OCOC in this story. With that there's also some BakuraRyou. Characters are OOC, and there is so Anzu bashing in chap 17.It ends
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, and I never will.

**__**

Prologue

"Yugi, what are you doing!?" Yami yelled at his lighter half. Yugi turned to him, and said, "The right thing." Then, he slowly started to dissolve, disappearing into the darkness. Yami closed his eyes in frustration, even though he did the noble thing, it just wasn't fair!

Tea looked up at the black blob that was the shadow realm, as Yugi had left, the good Marik appeared in a similar way. But she didn't notice, she was just staring at the spot where her closest friend had just stood. Then she looked over to Yami, he was probably the only person who was taking this as hard as her. She had been closer to Yugi that she had been with the others, and she knew that Yami felt the same way she did, as if a part of them had just been ripped out. Then again, Yugi really was part of Yami.

Tea walked over to Yami, and put a hand on his should comfortingly. Yami looked at her with red puffy eyes, and he sobbed into her shoulder, she put her head on his, and a lone tear went down her cheek.

"It's not fair," Yami told her. "We could have found another way to bring him back…it's not fair, he was like the family I don't remember. It's not fair."

"You're right Yami," She whispered hoarsely, "It's not fair."

Tea remembered that day clearly, even though it had been eight months ago. Yami and herself had been heartbroken, but they had mended their hearts- at least- for a few hours. Tea sighed, they hadn't quite taken each other's comfort the right way, and now she was paying for it. She was paying for it by being eight months pregnant and having to avoid her best friends. And she knew, after this she would have to go somewhere else. She certainly couldn't tell Yami about this, and she couldn't tell any of her other friends. She couldn't tell Joey or Tristen, they were blabber-mouthed idiots. She couldn't tell any of the guys for that matter, and she couldn't tell Mai or Serenity, she didn't know them good enough. She couldn't tell anyone, she felt so stupid, she was only sixteen!

She closed her eyes in sadness and frustration, she had to leave Domino, transfer schools, and get a job. She knew that she couldn't really afford much of anything by herself, but she knew that she could make it, her parents were dead, so she could use the insurance money that she had never spent. But she knew that wouldn't last forever. But she put those thoughts aside, she had the rest of the summer vacation to think it over.

****

Chapter One

"Mommy, mommy!" The four year old shouted, "What's is these?" She pointed to a box of cards in the window. Tea looked to see what her daughter was pointing to. A box of duel monster cards.

"Those are Duel Monsters, Kida, they're a famous card game," She told her daughter softly. Kida's eyes widened, "Can I gets some, mommy, cans I? Cans I?"

"Sure, honey," Tea smiled at her child, she definitely shared her father's love of games… Tea's eyes saddened thinking of him, but she kept on her smile for the little angel in front of her.

Tea led Kida in, holding the little girl's hand so she wouldn't wander off. They walked up to the counter and Tea picked her up. "One starter deck for the little gamer here," Tea told the man at the register. Kida giggled at the nickname, and turned around in her mothers arm so she could see what was going on.

The cash register stared at her, she was quite a sight to see. She had black hair with red and blond highlights, and large crimson eyes that sent shivers down the man's spine. He looked down at his work and got out the cards, he put them in a bag and said, "Four dollars, please." Tea took the money out of her wallet and gave it to the man.

Kida looked at the bag anxiously and Tea laughed, she took out the cards and handed them to Kida. The girl excitedly took them and looked at all of the writing, reading it quite well, considering she was four-year-old. "Creoted by Macimilon Pegusas, it tis time to du-el." Tea chuckled and corrected her daughter, "Good try, but it's: Created by: Maximillion Pegasus, It's Time to Duel!" She said, faking a deep voice that was kind of like Yami's. Once again, at the thought of Yami, her face saddened but brightened up again when her daughter said, "Ohs," cheerfully.

"Hey, Yug, that looks kinda like Tea! But who's dat kid wit'a?" Tea heard. Was that Joey!?

"You're right, that does remind me of her, but then again, we haven't seen her in four years…" The voice sounded disappointed, and just like Tristen!

"Tea?" She heard another deeper voice ask. She was positive now; it was Yami and the gang!

She started walking faster hoping they wouldn't notice her, "Hey, Tea!" Joey called to her, "Tea!" she heard Yami yell… she started walking faster, almost running now. "Mommy?" Kida asked, sounding slightly scared, "What's wrong?" She looked at her daughter softly, slowing down, "Nothing," she told Kida.

She walked slower after that, but still faster than normal, she really didn't want to explain why she had been avoiding them for four- almost five- years.

When she got back to her apartment building, she was sure that the others hadn't followed her, she sighed with relief as she entered. She lowered Kida to the ground, her arms slightly sore after carrying her for such a long time. She watched as Kida opened the package as quickly as she could. "What's this card, mommy?" She asked. Tea walked over to her daughter as she looked at the card. "The Dark Magician Girl." Tea told her. "Dark Magician Girl," Kida repeated, "That's my favorite card." She said cheerily. Tea smiled at her, got up, and headed over to the kitchen to make their supper.

Before she got there she stopped and looked back and the excited little girl, she really was a female version of her father.

Yami stared at the place he had seen her. Why had she been avoiding them for so long? At first they thought that she couldn't stand to be near Yami because he was a constant reminder of Yugi, but after four years, that excuse wasn't really working.

"Where'd she go?" Tristen asked. He and Joey were still looking for her, almost sure they had just lost her in the crowd.

Yami sighed, "She's not here, and you know it," He said grimly, gaining the other's attention, "She been avoiding us for almost five years, you really think she'll change her mind now?" He asked, sadness in his voice and his normally harsh crimson eyes. It surprised Joey to see Yami acting like this, but he knew that he was right, it was hopeless.

"Dinner's ready!" Tea called into the other room. Even though the rooms were small and not far apart she knew she'd need to yell to get her attention, and when just yelling didn't work, "I made your favorite."

That immediately got Kida's attention. She put her cards down and rushed to the kitchen shouting, "Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti!" Tea laughed at her excited girl, and picked up the pot of spaghetti. She dumped the water in the sink first, and then headed over to the counter where she had left two plates, one bigger, one smaller. She put about half the spaghetti on the plates, then put the cover back on the spaghetti and left it on the counter, knowing her daughter would want more immediately after she finished her first serving.

She was right, because after five minutes she was repeating the word, "More," over and over until she finally got her mother to go over to the counter and get her what she asked for.

Tea came back over from the counter and sat back down, finishing her own food and then putting it over in the dishwasher. Then she looked over at Kida who was finishing her own pasta. Once she was done, Tea took her plate over to the dishwasher as well.

"Desert?" She heard Kida asked. She smiled and turned to her daughter, "Well… you were pretty good today, I think that you deserve some ice cream." She told her in a playful tone.

Kida smile brightly and waited for the delicious treat to be served. Tea walked over to the mini freezer/fridge and opened it. She soon found the ice cream and got it out. She took out an ice cream scupper and bowl from two different cabinets. She opened the ice cream and took two scoops. She put the ice cream back in the freezer, walked over to Kida and gave it to her. "What do you say?" She asked. "Thank you, mommy," Kida said while stuffing her face with ice cream.

Tea smiled lightly at the girl's bad manners and walked out of the room. She knew that she loved her daughter a lot, and that she was a gift from god, but sometimes she wondered what would've happened if she didn't have her. She would still have her friends, and she would still be dancing… but she was pretty happy with her life, even if she didn't exactly have friends anymore. She had Kida, and Kida herself was as good as a thousand friends. And she still saw Yami, Joey, and Tristen, sometimes even Mai. And she saw Kaiba almost every day on the TV screen.

Though seeing her friends at school wasn't the same as hanging out with them, cheering them on in their duels, getting into trouble with the gang was something she never thought she'd miss, but she did, and it was pretty lonely when she knew her friends still hoped she come back to their group, and sometimes, she almost did.

She sighed, she really missed them, but she knew that she couldn't see them- she could never talk to them again.

A/N: I really hoped that you liked my story, I'll only update if you review me, because I almost never get the reviews I want, so I really hope that you'll review this story. But no flames, please! It's summer, and I don't need the extra warmth. So please review and I'll update, thank you!


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, all I own is Kida, Rirsi, Lily, any other OC's and possibly the plot.

**Chapter Two**

Kida looked at her mother sadly, "Do I really have to go, mom?" She asked, shaking with nervousness.

Tea looked at her daughter lovingly, with a bit of pity in her eyes. "Yes, Kida, you do," She said firmly, "You have to go to kindergarten, and besides, kindergarten's all about having fun. Anything that they'd teach you, you already know." She assured her daughter. It was true, anyway, Kida could already read and write quite well. Extremely bright for a five year old.

Kida smiled and said, "Okay," she walked over to the door and pushed it open with little difficulty, she was tall for her age, and strong though she was thin. She walked inside and looked around, she was still a little nervous, but she put her fears aside and walked over to the woman she assumed was the teacher and said, "S'cuse me."

The woman looked down at her and smiled, she, like everyone else, was a little shocked at her outrageous hair and eyes, but she hid those emotions and said, "Why hello there, I'm Ms. Livin, your teacher. What's your name?" Her tone showed she didn't believe there to be much intelligence in her, but she was quite mistaken.

"Kida," She said sweetly, "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't use the baby talk, I'm not two, you know." She snapped at her, though she instantly regretted it, "Sorry!"

The teacher looked slightly taken about, but got over it, and looked at her gently, "Well, you're right, I should treat you with more respect." She smiled, "Now, take a seat anywhere you want."

Kida walked over to an empty table and folded her hands on top. She hoped that her mom was wrong, and that she would learn something.

She watched as the teacher went to the front of the class and stood in the middle, "Hello class," She started, "I'm Ms. Livin, your teacher."

"Hello Ms. Livin," the class chorused.

Ms. Living smiled, "I'm going to take attendance, does anyone know what that means?"

Only Kida raised her hand.

"Yes, Kida?" She asked.

"It means you're going to call our names, and we'll say if we're here or not," She said in an almost board tone.

"Very good Kida," The teacher said, smiling, so she began, "Rirsi Bakura?" "Here!" "Lily Harrison?" "Hi!" "Kida Gardner?" "Present." Kida called. And it continued on for a few more minutes until the teacher finally got to, "Terrence Wunra." Everyone was there.

"Okay, I'm also going to pair you up into groups of three so everyone will be sitting with someone. Rirsi, Lily, and Kida are in one group" Kida really didn't listen to the rest, she just went over to sit with Rirsi and Lily, "Hi." She said, waving.

"Hello," Rirsi said, a slight trace of a British accent in his voice. "What's up?" Lily asked, a goofy smile on her face.

After a minute or so, the Ms. Livin got everyone's attention and told them, "You're going to be doing everything in these groups for the year, and I hope that you make friends with everyone in your group, or at least try."

Everyone answered is some way that meant, 'yes'. And listened to see what they would be doing on their first day of kindergarten, "Alright, today, we'll start learning the first three letters of the alphabet, does anyone know what they are?"

Once again, only Kida raised her hand. "Well, it seems we have a little genius in our class," the teacher muttered, "Yes, Kida?"

"A, B, and C," She said, boredness very obvious in her voice. "Do you know how to right them?" Kida nodded, "Well, please come up to the chalkboard and show us how."

Kida did as she was told and swiftly and flawlessly completed the task. "Oh my," Ms. Livin said, "Do you know the rest of the alphabet?" Kida nodded, "And I can read and right." Ms. Livin just looked shocked, "Well, than, would you please read this sentence?" She quickly wrote one on the board. "Kindergarten in extremely fun." She said, sounding just as bored as she felt.

Ms. Livin just stared at her, how did a five year old get so smart? "Well then, you should be good at helping your group. Kida nodded and sat back down in her chair.

The rest of the day went by quickly, and she soon discovered that instead of learning, she was teaching! And she soon discovered that her group had been doing the best by far compared to the rest of the class.

She also soon made very good friends with Lily and Rirsi. Lily was a good artist, and pretty, with blond hair and shining blue eyes, though she was quite short. Rirsi was a little shy, but he was very polite, and enjoyable to be around. He also had long white hair and chocolate brown eyes, he looked almost as unusual as Kida did!

At the end of the day, they were all out on the playground waiting for their parents to show up when Rirsi asked, "Hey, do you think that both of you could come over today? My big brother said that I could have some friends over today if I wanted."

Lily smiled sadly and said, "Sorry, I've got dancing lessons." Rirsi looked at Kida hopefully, "I think that my mom will let me go, I don't have anything to do and she got the weak of from work." Kida told him, smiling brightly at her new friend.

Soon Tea was there and smiling brightly at Kida, "How was your day?" She asked, Kida ran up to her mom and said, "Better than expected," She smiled, "I was more teaching than I was learning."

Tea smiled, "Make any new friends?" Kida returned the smile and ran over to Rirsi and Lily. "Yeah!" She said cheerfully, "Oh, and can I go over Rirsi's house today?" She asked, nodding to the boy.

Tea grinned at her daughter, "Sure." She told her. "I'll pick you up at four, that's in"

"Four and a half hours." Kida finished for her, Tea smiled again and then walked over to her car and got in, "Bye!" She shouted, waving at her. "Bye, mom!" Kida called back.

"Hey look!" Rirsi shouted, "It's my big brother!" He pointed over to what looked like a larger version of him. Rirsi ran up to him and jumped into his arms, the bigger boy stumbled a bit but got his balance back.

"Ryou!" Rirsi shouted fondly, holding his older brother in a death grip. "Not so tight, Rirsi!" He laughed. Rirsi quickly let go and blushed. "So," Ryou started, "Having any friends over?"

Rirsi's face brightened, "Yeah!" Rirsi raced over to Kida and pushed her over to where his brother was, Ryou chuckled at the sight of his over excited sibling and looked at her. What he saw shocked him, large crimson orbs that sent chills down his spine, and black hair with gold and red highlights. She seemed to look a lot like Yami, the spirit of the puzzle. He pushed it aside as mere coincidence, and smiled at her, "What's your name?" He asked her.

She smiled, "I'm Kida Gardner," She said proudly. Ryou mouth practically hit the floor. Kida _Gardner_? He put back on a cheerful face and questioned, "If you don't mind me asking are you related to Tea Gardner?"

Kida looked at him confused, "Yeah, she's my mom, why?" She asked. Why would Rirsi's older brother wanna know if Tea was her mom?

"Oh," He said, "Hey, your mom doesn't know where we live, does she? How about you tell me where you live, and I'll drive you home later?" He asked.

"Sure!" Kida said, smiling. Although she was a little wary of Ryou, still wondering why Ryou had asked about her mom.

The moment he had seen Kida, he knew that she looked familiar. Not just like Yami, but a little like Tea, the way her face was shaped, and her smile. Now he was even more confused. How could she look like both of them?

Tea had left the day after Yugi had, well, left them and none of them had seen her since. And even though he hadn't been back from the shadow realm, the other had told him a little about what happened.

Had something happened between Tea and Yami? He was getting very agitated with all of these thoughts, all of these questions. But he would ask Tea later, that was, after all, why he had offered to take Kida home.

Tea was worried. Kida's friend had looked a lot like Ryou, what if they were related? Ryou surely would notice how much Kida looked like Yami, and she hadn't really changed much since Battle City, he would surely recognize her.

Then she remembered, she didn't know where Kida's friend- Rirsi, she thought- lived! And if he were related to Ryou, he would surely drive Kida home! Tea tried to subdue those thoughts, after all, Rirsi wasn't necessarily related to Ryou, just because he looked almost exactly like him didn't mean they were releated... she hoped.

A/N: I hope that you liked the secod chapter! I update with the reviews, so if you want me to write more, then you'll review me, because reviewing is my motovations, but flames will be sent back at you so you will burst out in flames! Review me please! And here's where I thank that people who already did:

**Jamie (Atems **

Thank you, I'm glad you like it!

**Person Who didn't write their name**

I'm glad you think it's great, and that it's semi-original. And yes, the game will eventually be reunited, but not necisarily be a happy reunion...

**Hikaru **

Were you sugar high when you wrote this? Oh well, I don't care, I loved that review, it was one of my favorite yet, so no review again!

** Ksaturn **

It's okay if your little sister did it, as long as you liked it! But I don't think I'll respond to her...

**eframtheretardedrabbit**

Thank you! And you're right, now that I think about it, she does seem kinda like a plushy toy, cute enough to hug!

**Alaskantiger**

Well, you got more, lucky you! Thanx!

**trueyamigirlfriend**

I continued!

**Demon of Faith**

Thank you! You're the first person who ever told me that I have really good writing, and it's really nice of you! I give your review two thumbs up!

**Egyptian Rose**

Thanx!

**Pharaoh'sEgyptianArabian**

Thanks, that's okay, and thanx!

**norestar-angel**

Thank you, and now you got to see what happened next!

**lunarpowers**

Thank you, you are too kind... actually, I think that you have just the right amount of kindness to help me get motivated to update!

**Charmedbloody**

Yup! Yami's a daddy! And I guessed it! He he!

**Wildfire's Flame**

Thank you. Oh, and Yugi sacrificed himself, because in my fic Marik couldn't get rid of Malik, so he got sent to the shadow realm, and Yugi sacrificed himself to the shadows to bring Marik back.


	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: It is a continuous thing, if you own something, that you own something, if you don't own something, you don't own something, before I said I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, so do I own it now, huh?

**Chapter Three**

It was four o'clock before anyone really noticed, and Ryou was already driving Kida home, accompanied by Rirsi, who couldn't be left alone at home, so he came with them. It was about a five-minute drive over to the apartment building Kida lived at, and they got there quickly, not running into traffic at all.

They finally found there way to the Gardner's apartment, and Tea opened the door. She really didn't look surprised to see Ryou, and she let them in without more a 'hi' to Kida, she didn't even seem to notice the other two.

"Rirsi, Kida, why don't you go watch TV for a while?" She asked the two children in front of her, they nodded and Kida led her friend into the living room. After finally being sure they were gone, Tea turned to Ryou, "Hi," She started, "I guess that you noticed she's yours_ and_ Yami's, isn't she?" Ryou asked quietly. Tea nodded, "Is that why you left?" He looked up at her.

She once again nodded, "I couldn't stay, I was sixteen and pregnant after a stupid incident. Yami and I we got carried away, it just _happened_, we were just doing it to keep away the pain" she stopped for a moment, and Ryou saw a tear fall down her cheek, "Yugi just _left _us, we were hurt, and it was comforting" She looked away from Ryou, tears gushing from her eyes.

"You know" Ryou said, gaining her attention, "Yami- when you left, he was the most hurt of all of us, I guess now I understand why." Ryou gave a hollow laugh, "You know, we were all so sure you two would eventually get together." Tea just stared at Ryou, "It always seemed that you were so close, and- well- you really were, I guess."

"Yeah," Tea mumbled, "I guess we were."

"Well," Ryou said, "Rirsi and me should get going, there is school tomorrow." Tea laughed, "Yeah, and it's really weird, just a few months ago _we_ were the ones going to school."

"Well, I guess I'll see you again sometime."

"Yeah," Tea smiled at him, "Oh, wait! Ryou" She looked at him with pleading eyes, "Please- please don't tell anyone."

Ryou smiled, "Don't worry, I won't." Tea smiled back at him, "Thanks."

"He he!" Kida giggled, "I won again!" she put her cards back down and looked at Rirsi. He looked like he was in shock, and very embarrassed. He just got beat by a girl for the _fifth_ time in a row.

"How- how'd you do that?" He stuttered. It was almost incredible about how good she was, and he wasn't the only person who thought so. She had dueled everyone in the class who knew how multiple times, and won every time!

"What can I say?" She said sarcastically, "I'm just really good at duel monsters." She told him proudly. Lately, with all of these victories, her ego had been boosted a bit, though she still knew her limits, and that there were people out there better than her. That was another good quality about her, she may have had a big ego, but she was wise.

Ryou sighed, he never got a good answer out of her, and when he asked who taught her how to duel, she told him that she had taught herself. He had been taught by his brother, who was quite a good duelist, he had been a finalist in the first Battle City finals, and he was still pretty good. Rirsi was even starting to doubt that even his brother would be able to beat her!

"I give up, I'm not going to bother trying again." He told Kida, she didn't really look disappointed though. "Thank goodness! I was starting to get tired of beating people!" She yawned, stretching. Ryou sweat dropped, when she was dueling, she seemed to be very mature, but when she wasn't, she acted like the five-year-old she was.

"Alright class, we're all done, you can go outside and wait for your parents now," Ms. Livin called out.

Everyone rushed out of the classroom as fast as they could to wait for their parents, happy that school was finally over for the day.

One Year Later

"Mom, kidergarten was a bore, why's first grade gonna be any better?" Kida asked. She hadn't enjoyed her last year in school, it had been all fun and no work, and all of the word was much to easy.

"Well, you said you'd rather be with your friends than skip a grade, so you'll have to live," Tea told her firmly. Kida sighed, and got in the car so her mom could drive her to school. Even though through the summer she had sort of looked forward to going back, when she had to, she _really_ didn't want to.

When she got there, she was a little shocked, the school was HUGE! _Much_ bigger than the small kindergarten of last year. She walked down the side walk that led to a large block of pavement where all sort of kids were playing. There were kids who looked about her age and there were kids who looked like they were at least five years older than her.

"Kida!" She heard a voice shouting at her, when she turned around she was being tackled by and over excited Rirsi. "I missed you!" He said.

"But you just saw me yesterday!" She choked out, "Let go, you're choking me!" She shouted at him. He walked away slowly, blushing madly. "Sorry bout that, just needed to get your attention," She apollogized.

"That's alright," Rirsi said, "I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I didn't mean to do that, it's just, I'm so nervous! I don't even know if we'll be in the same class!" He ranted.

Kida giggled nervously, when Rirsi got like this is was worse than her when she got sugar high, and _that_ was scary enough. "Uh, Rirsi? We better go now, they're telling who's in what class." It was then that she got his attention, "Oh, well, let's go!" He stammered.

They rushed over to where all the other students had gathered, and they saw that the first grades were being called out first. "Mrs. Rassd's class: Rirsi Bakura, Hannah Dulr, Tarra Gabcan, Kida Gardner" Neither of them listened to the rest, they were just happy that they were in the same class.

"Okay, follow me," Called the woman they could only assume was Mrs. Rassd, the quickly obeyed, getting in a straight line behind the other students. They headed inside and into the first classroom on the right. Mrs. Rassd walked up to it and opened the door, a few first graders stepped out of the path of the door as she did so.

"Go on in, line up against the walls, and I'll tell you where you sit." She told them. All of the students filed in and did as they were told, soon she came in and started assigning groups of four, apparently, like their kindergarten teacher, in order of the first letter of their last names.

Rirsi and Kida were lucky, they once again got placed in the same group, and once again, Kida was unlucky because she wasn't at all challanged by any subject they had. Kida also was more teaching than learning like she was last year, but she did learn a little, but not enough to make anything interesting.

"Don't worry," Rirsi said as they headed out for recess, "I'm sure that you'll eventually learn something new." He tried to reasure her, but it really wasn't working. She just glared at him and answered, "Yeah, 'eventually' meaning years from now." Rirsi sighed at how negative she was being, but it didn't matter, she was doing better with it, seeing as she was getting closer to a challenge.

"Why do you always like things to be so hard?" He asked her. It had been a question that had puzzled him for a long while, and he was dieing for an answer.

"I, I don't know," She told him truthfully, "Life wouldn't be any fun wihtout a challenge here or there. That's one of the reasons I like duel monsters so much, it's something that can always provide a challenge."

He just stared at her. She really didn't act her age, it was like she had knowledge that wasn't supposed to yet be accessed, and the more he hang around her, the more he seemed to act like her. Why was she so strange?

That question had also puzzled him for the same time, yes, she was the child of the pharaoh, so she was destined to be wise. But why so soon? What had gone wrong to do this to her? Or was it a sign that she was ready? But no, that couldn't be true... there was still one more thing that had to be completed before she was ready...

A/N: Hi, sorry that these chapters aren't longer, I just haven't been able to right as much, I just don't really know how to. I need to eventually stop the chapters, so I just thought that I'd try to stop them along the lines of 1500 words, and turns out, that's a little shorter than I thought it was. The first chapter was longer, but the only reason why was because of the prologue, so I'm just asking you, please don't criticize the length of my chapters, I'm doing my best. But I do want you to review, just no flames, I don't need the torches yet! And now I'll thank all you nice reviewers!

**trueyamigirlfriend **

**darkbritishgirl **

**The Insane Sisters**

**sabrina **

**gurlzofdarkness**

**Alaskantiger**

**Pharaoh'sEgyptianArabian**

**Nefer **

**Monkey Shoes**

**stephanie m.**

Black-wings91

norestar-angel

Wildfire's Flame

Egyptian Rose

Kris Bluesummers

And these are all of the reviewers I know and love, oh, and I'm way to lazy to write out responces to your reviews at ten o'clock, so I've just listed all of your wonderful names/pen-names. Luv y'all!


	4. Chapter Four

Disclaimer: As everyone should know, I own Yu-Gi-Oh not, and i never will. I have said this multiple times and I hope that you have finally gotten in through your thick skulls that I don't own anything that I write about, that's why it's still 'fan fiction'.

**Chapter Four**

Kida sat down on a pair of stone steps outside, hands holding up her head lazily, and her eyes drooped, she had been right when she thought that first grade would be easy, actually, it had been beyond easy, she didn't even have to pay attention and she already knew what all of the answers were! It annoyed her, but she knew that she'd just have to find a way to live through it, seeing as there was pretty much nothing for her to do besides that.

But, beside that, something else had gotten her attention. She always felt, well, ditached, from almost everyone she knew. The only people she really felt comfortable around were Rirsi, his brother Ryou, and her mother. She just... didn't really feel like she knew anyone else, like she could trust them. She sighed, she had tried to just go with that she was being over cautious, but when she tried to talk to anyone else... well, she just didn't feel like they were really there, or like she was there.

She sighed again from frustration. Why did she always have to have such complex problems, he mother always said not to worry about anything, she was to young to care. She could see that apply to almost anyone else, but just not to herself. She just couldn't help but care about every little detail in her life, and besides, this wasn't exactly little.

She knew that she was different, but when she wasn't in school, she didn't realize it as much. But now, she noticed that all of the other kids gave her strange looks, like when she answered a question no one else knew, or, especially, when she actually corrected her teacher.

She rubbed her temples, trying to sooth the headache that was quickly developing. She had to stop thinking so hard about everything, she was going to overlode her brain. But she couldn't, she just couldn't stop thinking about how she was so strange, just plain weird! And Rirsi, she felt bad for him, because she was his only friend, he was starting to act more like her, and being labled as a freak, just like she was!

And, though she was the only person who seemed to notice, her classmates were starting to act strange as well, not the same as her or Rirsi, but still strange. What was going on?

Rirsi stopped bouncing the ball he had been playing with and caught it in his hands without looking. He turned his head looked over at his only friends. Her long, tri colored hair glissened in the afternoon, and her crimson eyes were closed, a look of frustration crossed with concentration plain on her face.

His eye brows knitted together in confusion, what could she possibly be thinking about? Shouldn't she be trying to enjoy herself? They only had half an hour of recess, so shouldn't she make the best of it? He frowned, she always did seem a little strange to him, but, he didn't exactly consider himself normal either. He shrugged it off and continued to bounce the ball around the playground until he heard the school bell ring loudly and ran over to the first grade line and headed inside.

Tea walked through the park, Ryou right at her side. She looked around it, she still remembered what it used to be like, hanging out with the rest of the gang, and walking around there. She smiled and the memories, but her smile quickly faded, remembering her friends really hurt.

Ryou looked over at her, and saw the grim look on her face, he knew that it must have hurt a lot to be seperated from everyone, and being here probably wasn't really helping. He decided to try and make conversation, because the silence was getting a little creapy, "So," He started, "What was it like, you know, raising Kida?"

She looked over at Ryou, suprised by the sudden noise, but just smiled and answered, "Well, I guess that it was a little hard, trying to support both of us. But, I'd still say it was one of the best times of my life." Ryou, though Tea didn't realize it, did notice when she said 'one' of the best times, and thought about all of the other things that everyone had gone through. Ryou thoughts were inturupted when Tea asked, "Ryou... how have the others been? I mean, is everyone still together?" Her voice showed curiosity, but also concern.

Ryou grinned, "Actually, even more together than normal!" Tea looked shocked, "How is that possible?" "Well... Tristen, Duke, and Serenity worked together to set up Joey and Mai, who are now finally dating."

Tea smiled, "I always knew that they'd be together." She told him, then she looked down, "Erm... how's Yami?"

Ryou's face grimmed and he looked at her sadly, "He's well... he's kind of depressed," Tea's eyes filled with tears knowing that it was probably her fault, "When Yugi was gone, it was bad enough... but when you left, it seemed that he just finally snapped."

Silent tears streaked down Tea's cheaks. She had always, in her heart, known that she shouldn't have left, but now it was too late. She thought that something like that might have happened, and now Ryou had just confermed it. She wiped her eyes on the sleave of her shirt and said quietly, "Um, sorry, I-I've, got to g-go!" She moved her arm away from her face, and started running away from Ryou, who just looked at her sadly.

"I'm sorry Tea, I just didn't know how to lie to you... now I've ruined everything, you'll never come back. I've failed the Pharaoh and his Unknown Child."

Kida waited boardly as the school day seemed to drag on forever. She didn't really feel like paying attention, and there wasn't anything else to do, so she just sat there, being extremely board, not knowing what to do.

After what seemed liked years to her, the bell finally rang and she got up and headed outside to wait for her mother. She stood by Rirsi, who was waiting for his brother to come, was looking at her strangely when he got there. She looked back at him, a look of confusion plain of her face, and he met her gaze and just shrugged.

Kida shook her head at him and rolled her eyes, a few minutes later, Ryou got there, hugged his brother, and told him to get into the car. He turned to Kida and asked her, "Hey, do you want a ride? I was with your mother earlier, and she wasn't feeling so good." He told her.

She nodded her head, and climbed in after her best friend, who smiled at her. "Hey, I thought you were waiting for your mom?" He asked her. She smiled back and nodded, "I was, but Ryou told me she wasn't feeling well, and I could come with you," She told him. "Okay," He said, nodding his head, understanding.

When Kida got home, she waved good-bye to Rirsi and his brother, and went up to her appartment, unlocking the door with the extra key her mom had given her- just in case. "Hey, mom, I'm home!" She shouted out, when she didn't here a response, she went into the kitchen, not seeing her, she went into the living room, where she saw her mother sprawled out on the couch, obviously fast asleep.

Kida looked at her mother, she looked slightly pale, and her cheeks were red and puffy, almost like she had been crying, Kida shrugged it off and just walked off to her room, hoping that there was a little spare paper for her to draw on.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I think it was just a little shorter than the others, but I think that it was still long enough, though I'll work on getting them longer! I hope that you will keep on reviewing, because that's what'll keep me writing, and here's were I thank the people that already reviewed me!


	5. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: It is pointless to even write one of these, but I guess that I will anyway. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, I don't care, so what's the point? Glances over at lawyers Oh yeah, heh heh

**Chapter Five**

She looked at the teacher. On the outside, she looked full and alert, but on the inside, she felt bored out of her mind. Nothing much had changed over the years. Rirsi and herself were still best friends, and she still did not like to pay attention in school, but she was more concerned about what the teacher thought of her, so she decided it was best to try to pay attention. And if her mother was called, she would be forbidden to duel for a week, and dueling to her was like being popular to every other girl in her class.

The class ended quickly. Kida closed her book and neatly put it in her desk. She liked to keep her desk clean, so she could find things easily. She took out the book for her next class and also took her notebook from the desk. She opened them both, then quickly grabbed a pen, ready to take notes.

There was an uproar as voices flared from almost all of Kida's classmates. She had to keep herself from rolling her eyes at their immaturity. Only she knew that they would be caught if they started talking. Rirsi, his personality having changed from a shy, pleasant mannered boy, to a sly young man, eager to get into trouble, and then miraculously not get caught. Sometimes she swore that he was the worst of them all.

After a short period of more waiting, Kida watched silently as the teacher walked into the room. He had a smile on his chibby face, and his bright blue eyes sparkled, as though the sun was shining off of them. He had been affectionately nicknamed, Mr. Happiness and Sunshine, by his students.

Kida, of course, found that that was a rediculous nickname, and always reffered to him by his true name, Mr. Marel. She looked at him, almost as if asking him what she was to do next. He looked at her and grinned, she gave him a small smile and just continued to look at him. He shivered, he could barely stand to look into her crimson eyes, and he could always feel her dark crimson eyes, almost as though they were searching his soul.

He began class, and almost as quickly as it had started, it seemed that the entire day had ended. Kida looked at the homework board once more, just to check to see if she remembered all her work. Mentally, she grinned, she always knew what there was, and only checked just in case she might have accidentally zoned out.

She gathered her books and stuffed them into her backpack, making sure that she still had room for everything that was already in there. She put it on one shoulder and lined up in front of the classroom, waiting to be dismissed.

She walked out of the classroom after hearing the okay from her teacher, and left. She went ouside and waited for Rirsi. The boys and girls always left at opposite ends of the building, one of those odd rules that the old school always seemed to keep. She sensed a prescence behind her, and turned around to meet a pair of sharp, yet still soft, chocolate brown eyes. She smiled at him, and he put on one of those goof grins he always had on his face. She rolled her eyes and then inwardly sighed at herself, she seemed to be rolling her eyes a lot lately.

They waited for Ryou to show up, and they saw that the twenty-seven year old drive up to them. He smiled at them and said, "Come on, hurry up if you don't want Kida's mom to be yelling at me for driving so slow and worrying her sick!" Rirsri smirked at his older brother. Ryou shivered at the similarity it had to his yami's.

**Of course he has to be like me. He is, after all, my youger brother's incarnation.** Ryou heard a voice speak. A look of shock crossed his face.

What? he asked his yami,_You _had a little brother? He mental voice showed plain disbelief. Bakura skowled, **Of course! You think that I could pull of all of those amazing robberies without Rakuru's help?** Ryou was confused and shocked at the same time. Did you just admit you needed help? And who's Rakuru?

Bakura rolled his eyes from the Millenium Ring. **Hmm... based on gathered information, I'd assume that Rakuru's my little brother. And if you ever, and I mean EVER, tell the pharaoh or grave keeper about this, you'll wish that you were trapped in the shadow realm eleven years ago!**

Ryou nodded nervously, and cut off the link between himself and his yami. He returned to the world and saw that Rirsi was looking at him with annoyance, and Kida's featured plainly showed extreme bordom. He appologized for spacing out, and then drove Kida back to her house.

Kida looked at her best friend. He had changed a lot, and though it was slightly strange, she found the way he now acted, slightly... how was she going to put this, attractive? She always thought that she was immagining it, but now she was almost positive that she, well, like Rirsi. She sighed at herself, she was eleven years old and had a crush on her best friend, how great was that?

And, on top of that, she was almost sure that Rirsi would never like her. After all, she had three color hair and red eyes. How much weirder could you get? Their was almost nothing worse than being different, at least at her school. Everyone was always trying to look better than one another, and better to them, was having the most beautiful hair, eyes, and outfit. And to everyone else, she was the exact opposite of that. She noticed that no one had ever had the guts to look her in the eye, not even her mother. She knew that someone like her just creeped them out.

But she was just about as wrong as a person could get.

A/N: I know that everyone is going to be mad at me, becasue I'm having a real hard time updating often. This year I have inturmural basketball, which is Monday and Tuesday, and then theirs the play I'm in, which takes up Wednessday, and then their's school chorus on Thursday, I only have three free days until summer! So please, PLEASE, don't be mad at me. I know that this is a little late after the chapter three fiasco... I didn't update for three weeks, and I'm genuinly sorry, so just please, keep reviewing, and I'll try and update even more! Thank you all, I love you!!! And, like I always do, I shall thank you by writing out your pen names so others shall no how great you are:


	6. Chapter Six

Disclaimer: I do not, and will never, own Yu-Gi-Oh, if I did, Kura would have a girlfriend, Yami and Tea would be together, Valan(Varon) and Mai would be together, Yugi would be dead, Marik would have a girlfriend, Ishizu would disappeard of of the face of the earth along with Odion, Seto would be with Serenity, Pegasus wouldn't be dead, but would be eternally suffering in the blackest pits of the shadow realm. Kay? So, as you can see, I obvisouly don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

**Chapter Six**

It was a busy street, and no one noticed the man walking down the road, however strange he may have looked. With three colored hair that defied the laws of gravity and stale crimson eyes he was definately a site to see. And yet he received no strange stares, for they were all to wrapped up in there own lives to care what happened to someone else. And even if they did finally decide to see what he was doing, they would not find anything except a lonely figure walking down the street with an air of sadness around him that was as thick as the sands of Egypt.

He sighed, what had happened to him? He hadn't always been like this, once, he had had friends, and a lot of them too, and he had also had Tea. The tears came to his eyes but didn't fall, he had long since given up finding her, he had been hopeful for five years, and he had gotten nothing, so now, eleven years later there was, in his mind, no hope.

A raw smile made it's way onto his face, and he shook his head, was there anything that he was really aiming for? No, he was just a lonely being who had nothing to do, no where to go, and didn't particualarly care. Was there anything that he cared about anymore? He had lost his friends, his love, and he didn't even have people trying to steal his soul to keep him occupied anymore. Marik was no longer a power-hungry maniac, all problems involving Dartz had long since desinagrated, and even Bakura had finally given up trying to steal his puzzle. What a boring life. Then again, it wasn't really his life, was it?

Kida closed the door and waved to the car as it drove away. She had just gotten home and was in an okay mood. School, as always, had been completely boring and not even slightly challenging, so she had plently of energy and a lot of time.

She walked up the stairs to her appartment after getting buzzed in. She put her key in the door and turned the handle, she walked in and put her backpack neatly beside the door. She walked farther into the house and looked for her mother. She found her in the living room watching the news. She said a quick hello and then headed over to her room.

Opening the door, she walked over and laid herself down on the bed. She found a book on her shelf that she hadn't reread to many times, an dopened it. She had almost memorized the plot-lines of most of the books she owned, a few of which were on dueling.

She put the book down after finding that she no longer felt like reading it. She pulled out her deck and started to look through it. She had a rare strategy, one that was not often used. Her deck was made up of monsters with strong defenses, and had also many rare magic and trap cards. And also, she had another deck, for some of the more difficult openents, it was a deck based upon monsters with useful effects and strong deffenses. She knew that many people wouuld be able to quickly catch onto her strategy, but that didn't mean they could stop her.

She laid her deck carefully down next to her bedside and let her head rest on the pillow. No matter how much she loved being good at duel monsters, it wasn't the most important thing to her... but it was something that she had almost based her life upon. She had entered many tournaments, and won all of them. Though, sometimes she would not enter, and would watch as her best friend completely blow away all competetors.

Smiling to herself she realized how different, and yet alike she and Rirsi were. Maybe that's why she liked him so much, or maybe it was just the fact of how he was never afraid to express himself, and would never hisitate to let others know how he felt. He was her opposite in that catogory, she never let anyone see her emotions, she wouldn't. She wouldn't let them see her the way she truely was, they couldn't see the insicure little girl that she always had to hold inside, the person she wished she really wasn't. But that was who she was, and that was something she couldn't forget.

He entered his brothers office and looked at him in a confused manner. "What did you want to talk about, Seto?" The CEO of Kaiba Corp. turned to Mocuba, "I think that you should get a job." He said bluntly.

Mocuba stared at him, he what?! "You want me to get a job? Why?" He asked. He had no idea what his brother was talking about, he had just gotten out of college, was there some reason for him to get a job now? "Because, if you ever have to run this company, I want you to have some experience working. I don't care what you do, bit just in case you can't come up with any ideas, it should at least be something that can give you an idea of what it's like to either do buisness, or to be in charge of a group of people."

Mocuba sighed and nodded to tell his brother that he would do it. He left his brother's office and walked out into the hall. "Hmm... being in charge of a group of people might just work," A smile spread across his face, "How about teaching?"

A/N: I am so sorry that I many this chapter so extremely short, but I am sorry to announce I'm having a small case of writers block. Though I am really happy about how this story is doing. Though I am sorry to announce that it will probably not be many more chapters than ten, I'm estimating aproximately eleven. But who knows, maybe it'll be longer, and I'm thinking of making a prequal in ancient Egypt, what it was like then. That would most likely be a KidaRirsi story. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, because I liked writing it, at least a little (more like a whole bunches, even if I'm not that good at writing).


	7. Chapter Seven

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Disclaimer: As you all can tell, I don't, will never, and even if I hope to, no longer even have fantasies about owning Yu-Gi-Oh, it's so sad, but we'll all just have to get over this little factor and move on in our nice pathetic pointless lives. Wow, that just made me sound very extremely and utterly depressed and gothic. Weird, heh heh, oh well, on to the story!

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Chapter Seven

Tea sighed; work had been canceled for the week because the company's owner was taking a holiday, celebrating his twentieth anniversary. Her eyes lingered on the sidewalk as she walked down the crowded streets of Domino City.

She hadn't been out for a while, for she sometimes still feared that she would see her old friends walking down the streets, having a good time and not remembering her at all. It was sad really. If they had forgotten her she couldn't hold a grudge against them: after all, she hadn't seen them in over eleven years. In fact, next week would mean that it had been exactly twelve years…

She sat there, waiting patiently for the moment when the teacher would walk through the door and apologize for his late arrival. She heard some movement out in the hallway, and saw a young man walk through the door. He looked like he had just graduated college, about twenty-two years old.

He put a metal briefcase on the floor and looked up, his face was bright and he had a large grin on his face. His long black hair framed his face and made his eyes look even brighter. "Hello, everyone. My name's Mokuba Kaiba and I'm gonna be your substitute teacher for the rest of this week," He said.

Kida thought over what he said, something in that sentence was bugging her, his name. Where had she heard his name before? Kaiba… it sounded very familiar…

Something finally snapped and she realized it. Kaiba! Of course, how could she have not heard that name? Mokuba Kaiba was the younger brother of Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation, and Mokuba was Vice President of Kaiba Corp.!

Before she realized it, he had started talking again, "My older brother told me that I had to get a job, so I decided that teaching wasn't so bad, so here I am!" His smile had not faltered, and everything he said was with enthusiasm, "And if you've got any questions about this, please refer them to a mister Rirsi Bakura."

Rirsi glared at him and mumbled under his breath, "Thanks a lot Mokuba… idiot." Though even as he said this a smile slid across his face slyly… now he finally had an excuse to humiliate Mokuba…

Knowing what he was probably thinking, Kida gave a quick glance towards her friend, she knew that he just loved to have an excuse to play a prank… or just plain humiliate someone.

Her thoughts had drifted to that painful subject. She hated when she though about them, about how much she missed them. She hadn't wanted to leave them, but she had no choice. They couldn't have understood what she was going through, and then things would have changed, and she would have eventually split apart form them anyway. Besides, it had been best for Kida.

She stopped suddenly, recognizing the building that she had stood in front of. She remembered how she had waited for Yugi and the spirit here so many times so they could walk to school together. She gazed at it sadly and sighed. She had lost the opportunity to be able to stay with her friends, not that it had existed for twelve years…

She sighed again, her chance to be with them had left her long before twelve years ago, it had started the day that she and Yami had met Ishizu…

Flashback

Tea stared at the spirit of the puzzle, he looked confused, which was very rare to see on his face. The spirit always managed to look calm and focused, and very cute… wait, cute? What the heck was she thinking? She mentally shook her head, something was wrong with her.

She closed her eyes for a moment and regained her composure. They were standing at the bottom step to the Domino Museum, her and the spirit, and for some reason it was a very nerve racking experience. "Let's go." He said, and the quickly walked up the stairs.

Upon entering the museum they saw many Egyptian artifacts, but nothing that would help them. They were at the back of the museum, walking by the doors to the basement when the spirit suddenly stopped.

Tea looked back to him with a confused expression, "What's wrong?" She asked him in a concerned tone of voice. That was just like her, always thinking of others first…

Without turning to face her he said, "I sense something down there that may help me in my search." She looked at him, confused. "In the basement?" She asked him.

Without responding he walked down the stairs to see what it was that had made him sense what he did…

End Flashback

It was ironic, that just when they had had a spark of hope that something good could happen, that Yami may have found a clue to his past, that Marik had come out of the blue and tried to steal the Millenium Puzzle. Was there some reason that nothing good could ever come out of a discovery, was there some reason that they had continuously had to face these harsh challenges? She didn't know, but it just didn't seem fare.

Kida eyed her friend warily. She could tell by the look on his face that he was plotting something, something very bad. She could see it in his eyes, that look- the look he got when someone was about to face extreme humiliation.

To her surprise, Rirsi didn't to anything throughout the entire school day, but he still had that look… Mokuba Kaiba was definitely going to get the worst of it. Or at least, that's what Kida _thought_ that look meant…

Rirsi had a ridiculous grin on his face and an evil glint in his eye. He so couldn't wait to talk to Mokuba. He had known the younger Kaiba ever since he was born, and they had always gotten along 'partners in crime', they had been called. The pranksters of Domino, other times they had been nicknamed.

But that wasn't why Rirsi wanted to talk to him. There was another reason…

Rirsi and Mokuba had made a vow that they would talk to each other about everything, and Rirsi knew that there was something that Mokuba needed to talk about- that anxious look in his eyes told Rirsi everything. There was something that was really bugging his new teacher, and Rirsi needed to find out.

The day passed quickly for Rirsi and once the bell rang and the rest of the class had left, Rirsi walked up to the front of the class and stood in front of Mokuba with his hands on his hips. Mokuba turned around to face him and grinned, "You do know that that makes you look even more like a girl than you normally do, right?"

Rirsi normally wouldn't come up with a wonderful comeback, but he was too anxious to know what was on his older friend's mind. "What's up, Kuba, I can tell that something's bugging you, so tell me: What the heck's going on?"

Mokuba looked at him incredulously, "How did you?" Rirsi just cut him off, smirking, "I told you, I learned a few things from my brother's darker half."

Mokuba rolled his eyes and decided just to answer Rirsi's question, "Well, you know that girl sitting across from you?"

Rirsi looked surprise, "You mean Kida? She's my best friend." Mokuba put on a look of pain, "Yeah, I said: best friend, no offense meant, Kuba."

Mokuba continued, "Well, she looks like… someone my brother and I used to know." Rirsi looked confused, "Before you were born, my brother had a real bad rivalry with Yugi Motou, the King of Games. He was undefeatable. And, you know how your brother's got a darker side?" Rirsi nodded, "Well, so did Yugi, his name was Yami. And, in fact, he was Seto's real rival, since he was the one who dueled him… but I'm starting to get off the subject."

Rirsi rolled his eyes, "Just continue."

"Alright," he said, "Well, about a year before you were born, my brother held the first Battle City Tournament, specifically for the purpose to beat the Rare Hunters, and Yugi."

Rirsi looked at him in confusion, "Who the heck are these 'Rare Hunter' people you're talking about." Mokuba calmly explained them to Rirsi and Rirsi once again told him to continue.

"Well, in the final duel of Battle City, Marik face Yugi, or Yami, in the final round. Marik, like Yugi and your brother had a dark side, but he had created this dark side from his own feelings of anger, betrayal, and sadness." Rirsi winced just at the though, and Mokuba nodded in agreement. "Marik's dark side, Malik, had taken over Marik's body, and Yugi/Yami was determined to save him. In the end, Yami couldn't find a way to save him, and Yugi sacrificed his soul to save Marik. Ever since then, two members of our group have been missing: Yami, and Tea Gardner."

Rirsi's eyes widened, "Wait a second, Kida's mom?"

Mokuba looked about as shocked as Rirsi. Finally, realization spread across his face and he ran out of the room, shouting back, "I've got to talk to Seto!" After yelling that he left Rirsi behind the try and absorb the information he had just heard.

A/N: Hey, finally my chapter had gotten longer! And sorry people, I don't think that this story will last to many more chapters, just a few, and then I've written all the info that I can cram into one story. But on the bright side, I plan to write two stories based off of this! It would be a nice pre-story to this, which would most likely be based on a KidaRirsi romance. Also, I plan to write a one-shot that was about the day that Yugi sacrificed himself, which would be a YamiTea, and don't worry, I don't write descriptive lemons! I normally don't even read them.


	8. Chapter Eight

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Disclaimer: I don't really think that I really have a point in writing this, and I'm pretty sure no one ever actually reads these, which just adds on to the 'I don't really think that I really have a point in writing this' point, so I don't know why I'm doing this… hears noise and glances back and lawyers in angry mob form Oh yeah… heh, heh… Okay, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, but I do own Kida, Rirsi, and anyone else who technically doesn't exist in the show. I also own this plot line, which I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter Eight

Rirsi stared blankly at the door. He was attempting to make everything he had just heard make sense. At the moment he was still stuck on the fact that Kida's mom used to be friends with Mokuba, and if she had been friends with Mokuba, she had been friends with his brother.

At that moment Rirsi remembered something. Once, when he was younger he had found a picture of a group of friends. Ryou had been very protective of the picture, and had taken it away from his and told him just to forget about it. Being the gullible little boy he had been back then, he didn't notice how his brother had acted, but now that he thought back to it…

He squinted in the effort of trying to remember what the people in the picture looked like. He remembered that the people were sitting inside some shop, but that was all he could remember. He tried harder, and finally was able to get a blurry image of some people.

On one side of the two people, was a boy with tri-colored hair and stunning crimson eyes, and on the other side was a girl with short chestnut brown hair and soft azure eyes… then he realized something. The girl looked exactly like Kida's mom, well, except younger. He also noticed that the man had the same crimson eyes as Kida, and the same basic hair colors. His eyes widened, could that be…?

Mokuba ran as fast as he could up the stairs of the large mansion. He took a sharp right turn and opened the first door in the hallway. He ran inside and shouted out, "Seto, where does Yugi Motou live?"

Kida walked calmly along the sidewalk, her eyes downcast. She was wondering what Rirsi was up to, when she had asked him if he wanted to walk home with her that day he said that he had something to do, and that he couldn't. She knew that he didn't do any sports, and she was really his only friend, so what could he be up to?

She sighed; perhaps he had some schoolwork to make up? She knew that he wasn't really the most committed student. Or possibly he was talking to the teacher? She had asked him about it and said that he had known Mokuba his entire life. Maybe that was it?

She walked up the stairs of her apartment building and opened the door. She saw that her mother wasn't home and shrugged it off as her going to the grocery store or something. She walked into her room and closed the door after her. She leaned back against the door. What was going on that she didn't know about?

Seto looked at his brother with his eyebrow raised, "And you ask me this now, why?" He questioned Mokuba. After all these years he wanted to get in contact with that title-stealing idiot-pharaoh?

Mokuba just told him, "I think I've finally found the reason why Tea left."

He sat back in the chair of his apartment, it wasn't the most comfortable position, after all, the chair was made out of hard wood, and the only soft part was a small cushion on the seat. He groaned, he really needed to buy a couch.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud knock on the door. He sat up and walked over to the door. He didn't often get visitors, seeing as he had abandoned his friends to go and live in a semi-depressed state.

Opening the door he saw someone he had hoped he would never have to see again. "What are _you_ doing here, Kaiba? Is there some reason that after all these years, you've decided to come barging into my home?" He asked in an annoyed tone of voice. Yami really didn't like Kaiba, and he had plenty of reasons.

In fact, off the top of his head, he must have had at least ten:

Kaiba had almost put his light side's grandfather into a coma. Kaiba had gone to great lengths to cheat at duels just so he could win. He had repeatedly called himself and his friends crazy for believing in magic. He had thrown a tournament for the sole purpose of beating him and collecting the god cards. He was the reincarnation of an evil High Priest that betrayed him. He was a good-for-nothing bastard. He hated Joey for absolutely no reason. He was richer than he should have been. He was a jerk. Yami just didn't like his attitude. 

There, ten reasons why he hated Kaiba. Well, not all of them were particularly good reasons, but they were reasons.

Seto just stared down at the spiky haired man in front of him. He wasn't as short as he remembered, but he was still a considerable amount smaller than himself. Seto knew that if he stood in that spot saying nothing much longer, he would probably just turn around an leave, so he went straight to the point, "I know something that you might want to hear about," he said.

Yami raised an eyebrow saying, "And that something would be…?" He left the question to hang there for a moment.

"Mokuba found that little girlfriend of yours," Seto said simply. "If you want to know where she is, I'll give you her address."

Yami nodded, trying very hard to grasp what was happening. Seto handed him a piece of paper before leaving him to his thoughts.

Yami only half-understood what had just happened. Why had someone who had hated him so much for so long suddenly want to help him? There was no answer to his question, not that he expected any. That was also the part that he hadn't understood, but the one thing that had definitely clicked was: 'Mokuba found that little girlfriend of yours.' He was pretty sure he knew whom Kaiba had been referring to…

Tea.

Ring… ring… ring… click. The phone was finally picked up and Kida's foot finally ceased it's pounding on the floor.

"Hello…?" The voice on the other line had a hint of worry and anxiety in it. It was obvious that the speaker was under some kind of stress.

"Ryou?" Kida asked quizzically. Ryou had always been a very relaxed person around her, at least, after knowing her for a while. When she had first met him, you would probably think him to be a very shy person, which he probably was, but he had more confidence than people gave him credit for. "Is there something wrong?" She continued, "Did something happen?"

The worry had become more obvious in Ryou's voice, and it seemed as if he was trying very hard to not suddenly combust and go into 'meltdown mode', as Rirsi had teasingly called it. "I'm not sure," He said in a quiet, stuttering voice, "Rirsi hasn't gotten home yet, and he hasn't called."

Kida glanced over at the clock. 3:57 p.m., it read in bold red numbers. Rirsi was always home before her, and now she knew Ryou was worried. Despite what people would guess from his rude (and in her opinion, slightly- which is a large understatement- attractive) personality, he was incredibly bright, and knew what he should do to keep his brother's nerves from going out of control. Unless something was wrong, or somehow managing to shock Rirsi into a state of unawareness so that he had no idea how long he had stood there, most likely staring at a wall or something, there was definitely something to worry about.

Kida tried to calm her nerves while she told Ryou gently, "I'm sure that Rirsi's fine, he probably just got distracted at some game shop and didn't think to call," she said. "If it would make you feel better, I'll go look for him…?"

Kida waited calmly for her best friend's brother to respond, "Alright," he said hesitantly, but if you find anything, please call me!" The last part was said with emotion leaking from each word, making Kida nervous and pitiful at the same time.

"Okay," she said, "I'll find him as soon as possible." With that said she hung up the phone and ran out of her apartment building with nothing but a quick 'good-bye' to her mother.

A/N: Okay, this chapter was longer than the others were. I think if sucked, though. No, wait! This story is PG, beep that out, beep that out NOW! Wait a second, which don't I just rewrite it? I don't know, and I don't really care, it's fun to do stupid things like that, I don't exactly get to do them often, because I really don't write humorous fan-fics, as you can tell. Oh yeah, I'm sorry if I don't update often, but I really want a lot of reviews, and even if I do get them, I get distracted reading my favorite new type of fan-fic, and EC fic, from _The Phantom of the Opera_, or the French book, _Le Fantome de la Opera_, or something like that… anyways, read and review, people! Love ya!


	9. Chapter Nine

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Disclaimer: It is now beyond common knowledge that I don't, and, if all likelihood continues, I never will own Yu-Gi-Oh. Looks back cautiously at the lawyers, who have pitchforks and torches ready Was that good? Lawyers nod Phew! I thought for sure that they would kill me for- remembers lawyers are still standing there ugh, never mind! So, on with the story which I'm pretty sure no one is actually reading anymore because this long and annoying disclaimer is making them all very bugged, so I'm just gonna say it one more time- for the lawyers, of course- that I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, and never will (if my plan doesn't work…)!

****

Chapter Nine

There were times that she really didn't know why she had given up her life before, times she didn't know why she had been so insecure, so foolish… but those thoughts were quickly hushed by the knowledge that it didn't matter now, that she couldn't do anything about the past, no matter how much she wished she could.

She sighed and gently rubbed her temples, trying to stop a headache that was quickly forming. She knew that all of these thoughts and regrets were doing nothing for her, but sometimes they were so hard to avoid. She missed her friends, she missed everyone so much, what she would have done just to see Kaiba making fun of Joey again, to see Tristen and Duke flirting with Serenity, to see Yami and Yugi…

Shaking her head, she tried to make those torturous thoughts leave her, oh, how she missed those two. That didn't matter, though, Yugi was in the Shadow Realm, for God's sake, she couldn't do anything about that! And Yami- she couldn't even imagine what state he was in now, first he had lost his other half, the light side, and then he lost another friend… maybe something even more important that a friend…

He lost his daughter, too, she remembered with a sudden jolt. Then again, he didn't even know Kida existed, so, could you even lose something that you never even knew you had? She almost laughed, that wasn't something she could speak of; she didn't know anything about that, now did she?

Rirsi walked slowly down the road, his mind was still reeling from the information that it sought to correctly absorb. So many thoughts were spiraling through his head, trying to grasp the situation at hand. It seemed as if he played a minor part in the game that was just now revealing itself to him.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he was not only confused, but on a high level of frustration, most of which was directed at his brother, and a small amount towards Kida's mother. Why had his brother never talked about this, why hadn't he said anything about it to him? His brother always told him everything, and what he didn't voluntarily tell was squeezed out of him forcefully. How had Ryou managed to hide something as, well, _twisted_ as this from him?

Thoughts such as these were still tangled around his brain when he entered his home. These thoughts, though, were interrupted by his over-concerned brother enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug. Rirsi just gave him a cold stare as he started interrogating him.

Ryou finally seemed to notice Rirsi's violent gaze as he asked, "What's wrong? Did I do something?"

Rirsi nodded, "Yeah, I guess you could say you did 'something'," He said coldly.

She had looked everywhere. School, the arcade (Rirsi had always enjoyed shooting virtual people), she had ever checked the mall! Now that proved that she was desperate. She had never liked shopping- most other girls thought her crazy for that- and she knew that Rirsi wasn't particularly fond of the mall either.

That should earn the understatement of the year award.

Kida sighed, sitting down on a bench outside of the most girly-looking clothes store she had seen all day. She leaned her head back over the bench and her tri-color hair tumbled over, looking curiously like some sort of fancy rug.

She rubbed her temples to try and ease away a coming headache, she already had enough to deal with, and she didn't want a headache distracting her.

Ryou looked at his little brother with confusion written plainly in his eyes. What could he have possibly done to get his little brother so upset? Had he forgotten his birthday or something?

Ryou felt unnerved by the cool glare his brother had been giving him ever since he got back. Ryou was seriously thinking of letting his yami take his place to deal with his brother.

He finally got up the nerve to ask his brother what he had done. "Rirsi… what did I do? I'm starting to get a little freaked out about the way you're looking at me."

Rirsi just continued glaring at him, until he finally answered. "It's not just what you did to me, Ryou. It's what you did to Kida."

"Okay," Ryou said, switching from one foot to another nervously, almost twitching from the tension in the room. "Now I'm really confused. What did I do to Kida? I don't think that I forgot her birthday this year," he said sarcastically.

Rirsi rolled his eyes, but said in a voice that clearly said that he didn't think that his brother's comment was amusing, "Really, big brother, it's more of what you didn't tell her. More of what you've been hiding from her. What you and her mother have been keeping from her for so long."

It was in that moment that Ryou realized what his brother was hinting at. "You're talking about Kida's father, aren't you?"

Rirsi nodded, "Yup."

For so long, he had been alone. He had been alone for twelve years.

You don't have to be by yourself to be lonely.

No, he had been with those whom he had called his friends for a long time, even after he had started to have this feeling. That didn't mean that they could make his feel welcome. Feel wanted.

No, he hadn't felt that way for a very long time. He had stopped believing in the talks of friendship that he had not only received, but given. He had stopped believing that anyone could ever love him, not since she left.

She had left him feeling empty, but now, he finally had the chance to feel full again. He could finally feel love again, because now he could find her.

As he stood outside the door of her apartment, he felt a rush of emotions come onto him. He felt a rush of excitement, and a relief that he could finally be with her again, no longer alone. At the same time he felt sadness, and regret that when he walked into that door he may be walking into a life that he could never be in.

He didn't want to feel like that, and he didn't want to intrude. But he had to. He needed her.

He finally knocked on the door, and as he heard the click of a door unlocking, his heart raced. He would finally see her again.

A head popped out of the door, soon followed by a body. It was a woman: she had long brown hair, and chocolate brown eyes. She had a slim figure, with noticeable curves that could make any man drool. It was her.

"Tea…" he said softly.

Her eyes widened, "Yami!"

A/N: Hello, all! Look, I finally updated! You all must be so happy. I am SO SORRY THAT I DIDN'T UPDATE SOONER! I just didn't have much inspiration. At least now I finally have one more chapter on the internet.

Okay, you should all know that I want **_AT LEAST 20 REVIEWS ON THIS CHAPTER_** before I update, or the next one won't come for a really long time. I don't care if you all have to review like 4 times just to do it, I just really want the reviews, so that I can have at least some motivation to finish the story besides that fact that I'm been writing it for almost a whole year.

Okay, I'll try to update quicker this time! R&R!


	10. Chapter Ten

_Disclaimer: You people, by now, should know that I do not, and will not ever own the wonderful thing known as Yu-Gi-Oh. Okay, that's a good enough disclaimer for now._

A/N: Hello to all of my wonderful reviewers! I love you all for reviewing so much! I have 162 reviews! You reviewers rock! Okay, so I guess for now I should just tell you that the stories almost over, probably only 1-3 more chapters left after this. But I would just like the thank you all for being so loyal to this story. So now I'll just say: R&R! Thank you.

**Chapter Ten (finally)**

_Ring ring ring_

Kida waited impatiently for the phone to be picked up. She hoped that, since she had been unable to find him, Rirsi had made it home already.

_Ring ring_

She hung the phone up, sighing loudly. She was worried about Rirsi, more worried that she normally would be about something like this happening. Rirsi was known for getting himself into trouble. And this wasn't the first time that something like this had happened. But, for some reason Kida couldn't figure out, her nerves had been on edge lately, and she had been slightly easier to set off.

She really hoped that these feelings were just her imagination. If not, well then, she wasn't quite sure what was going on.

She decided to try one more time. She dropped her last fifty cents into the change slot on the public phone, and waited, attempting to keep herself calm, for something to happen.

_Ring ring ring click._

She couldn't help but let a small smile slip onto her face when she heard the click of the phone, and Ryou's soft voice come to her ears. "Hello?"

Kida couldn't hear Ryou's earlier panic, but she did here something that sounded akin to relief in his voice. She ignored this and asked him, "Have you heard from Rirsi?"

"Kida?" She heard his recognition. He paused for a moment before answering, "Actually yes, he got home about half an hour ago."

She let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding. "That's good. I guess I'll be going now."

She was about to hang up the phone when she heard Ryou's voice frantically calling from the receiver, "Wait! Don't hang up!"

Now she felt confused. "What is if Ryou? Is something wrong?" A feeling of dread filled her. "Did something happen to Rirsi?"

"No, no," he said faintly. "Never mind. It's not important." She could almost here his smile from the other end. "I'll have Rirsi call you later. G'bye, Kida."

She heard the click of his phone hanging up, and she did likewise. She still had the feeling of discomfort from earlier, but she decided to ignore it. She had Rirsi back now, at least.

"I guess I should head home now," she said to no one in particular. With that she turned around and started off to her apartment.

She had thought that maybe, just maybe, if she tried really hard, she would finally be able to forget her old friends. Then just when she thought this, she turns around just to open the door to the one person she thought she would never see again. She had thought that, by leaving, he would have been able to move on from her. After all, he had been around long enough to know that nothing lasts forever.

But then she sees him right in front of her, barely having aged a day since she had last seen him. He was still the most handsome man she had ever seen. Sometimes Tea wondered why she ever left him.

Then it would all come rushing back to her, Kida, her pregnancy that night. It was all she could do to suppress a shiver, just at the thought.

She was sent roughly spiraling into the present when she felt his strong arms wrap around her in an embrace. For the first time in a very long time, she felt as if she were sixteen and in love again. Of course, she admitted to herself, she was still in love.

But she wasn't sixteen anymore. She had a daughter who was twelve years old, and here stood Kida's father, hugging her and completely oblivious as to what she went through.

Reluctantly she pushed him away, trying to ignore the hurt look in his eyes as she asked, "Yami, what are you doing here?" She hadn't meant for it to sound so rough, but she couldn't help it. "I haven't seen you for twelve years. Why the sudden interest in my life?"

That time she knew that she had gone too far. She was letting her emotions take control of her, and that normally wasn't good. But she was just so frustrated! Here Yami was, acting as if nothing had happened, and as if it was normal for him to just show up at her door after over a decade!

Yami lowered his head, and he whispered. "I'm sorry." His voice was so soft that she was surprised she had even heard him. And when she heard the pain in his voice she realized that his life probably hadn't been any easier than hers.

Actually, his life was probably harder than hers was. He had been left alone but the other half of his soul, and he was in a world that was five thousand years ahead of his own time. He didn't even know his real name.

Her eyes showed her sympathy for him, and she said gently, a small smile escaping to her lips, "It's alright, Yami." She shook her head, and tears leaked form her eyes. "I guess I'm just a little shocked. I haven't seen you in such a long time I guess that I really just don't remember what it's like."

Yami reached up gently, and wiped the tears form her eyes. A smile caressed his handsome face, and Tea could feel her own heating quickly, as a blush reddened her cheeks. "You're right," he said, "it has been a very long time."

Tea felt frozen stiff as she felt Yami's lips gently touch her own, in a shy kiss. Yami pulled his head back and Tea gazed intently into his searing crimson eyes. Those eyes had been the very thing that had made her feel so strongly for him; those eyes which were sad, lonely, and wise beyond the years of any mortal being. Those very beautiful eyes, which now looked upon her with a love she hadn't seen since that night twelve years ago.

It was then that her fantasy of an uncomplicated love snapped right before her eyes.

"Mom?"

A/N: I'm sorry that that chapter was so short, but I must say, it was pretty well written. Okay, just as a condition, before I post the next chapter, I must have **AT LEAST 175 REVEIWS (in all)**. Okay? Oh yeah, and whoever said that I shouldn't be writing this story if my only motive is to get reviews, I was just being sarcastic when I said that. I'm also writing this for the reviewers, and also for myself, for the satisfaction of actually being able to write something, and to have people like it.

Okay, so for how, just R&R. And for this chapter: That's all, folks!


	11. Chapter 11

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Disclaimer: Howdy, folks! I do not, and I repeat, do NOT own this here Yu-Gi-Oh. It be a sad thing, really, y'all. But, c'mon, me friends, we'll be getting' or this we bit o' info soon. Now, won't we? (Picture this said with first a southern accent and then a Irish one.)

A/N: Okay, everybody. I've finally decided to update. I'm so sorry it took me SO long, but I had a real big case of the writer's block. Okay, so for now, I'll just try to satisfy you with this chapter.

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Chapter Eleven

Ryou wished that Kida had stayed on the phone longer. That way he would have been spared any further explanation to his little brother.

"Who is he?" Rirsi asked. That was one of the first questions on Ryou's "List of Things I Never Want to Have to Tell My Brother".

Ryou sighed, then asked, "Why do you need to know?" Ryou was pretty sure that he knew the answer.

"Because I care about my best friend!" Rirsi shouted, obviously slightly pissed at his older brother. "Because I want to know if there is a good reason why you or Kida's mom never told Kida who her father is! So I wanna know: Who is he? and Why didn't you tell Kida who he is?"

The he went again, naming another question on Ryou's list. "I don't really think that I should be the one to tell you all of this." Ryou said quietly.

"Fine," Rirsi huffed, "if you won't tell me, then I'll have to ask Ms. Gardner." With that said he stomped out of the room.

You could almost taste the confusion- frustration combined with angst- in the air. It was shared by the three occupants of the apartment; all of them had their own reasons.

Yami was almost in shock. He had- for the first time in twelve years- just reunited with the woman he loved, and then a child came through the door and claimed that she was Tea's 'daughter'. And, the strangest thing about this child was the fact that she shared almost all of her features with- strangely enough- him!

Tea had been trying for years to forget about Yami, and then he came back into her life. For a moment he had made her forget that she was a twenty-eight year old woman trying to raise her eleven-year-old daughter, and that Yami was her daughter's father. Then Kida had come into the room, and brought everything back.

Well, that just goes to show that momentarily forgetting something never did anything good. For Tea, at least.

Kida was mostly confused. All she could figure out of the situation was that there was a man who looked the same age as her mother, had the same hair and eye color as her, and he looked just about as confused as her. Well, maybe not _as_ confused. After all, he hadn't just seen his mother kissing someone she had never met before.

Rirsi was a piece of dynamite. He had a long fuse, but it had been lit a long time ago, and Ryou had just blown it up. Ryou was so mad he was at a point where he had every intention of barging into Ms. Gardner's apartment and force her to answer his questions.

A warning to all those passing by him: Stay away from the boy trying to protect his love.

"Mom, what's going on?" Kida asked. She was scared, and that was a rare thing for her. Kida was a strong, mature girl, and she was frightened by very little. But it seemed that a stranger near her mother was enough to drive her to a point of insecurity. Kida didn't like it at all.

"Tea?" Yami questioned. He looked confused and hurt. "Please, explain what is going on." His eyes became distant. "I'm tired of not knowing what's happening."

With both of their eyes on her, she wasn't sure if there was anything else that could make the situation more awkward, confusing, and painful. She proved herself wrong when the door flew open and Rirsi stomped in, an angry look on his face.

"Ms. Gardner, I-" He cut himself off when he looked around the room. He saw Tea, her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were wet from crying. Kida looked frightened and confused. He turned to see another person in the room. It was the man from the picture: Kida's father.

Rirsi forgot what he was going to say.

Tea turned towards Rirsi. Her eyes showed frustration, pain, and weariness, "Will Ryou be coming after you?" she asked him gently.

Yami looked at her, confused. "The Tomb Robber's hikari?"

Tea ignored his question and waited for Rirsi's answer. "I don't think so," he told her. "He doesn't normally follow people after they storm out in an angry rampage…" the last part wasn't really meant for Tea, she could tell.

No one spoke for a moment, having nothing to say. After a few minutes Kida decided that something needed to be said, or nothing would ever happen. "Mom," she turned to Tea. She looked her strait in the eye and commanded, "You're the only one who seems to know what's going on here, so please, enlighten the rest of us."

Tea looked around the room. All eyes were on her.

"I never imagined it would be this way," she began. "I always thought that I would be able to escape my past, and just move on with my future. And for twelve years, I did." She paused for a moment. "I was fifteen years old when this story began. My best friend Yugi had just solved the Millenium Puzzle. An ancient Egyptian artifact that was said to have mystical powers."

Kida interrupted her, "What does a legend about a piece of Egyptian junk have to do with this?"

"Everything."

Ryou wasn't sure what he should do. He had never really been an important figure when he had been part of Yugi's gang. He had just liked to pretend he was.

He had always wanted to be the main character, the one who the plot wouldn't work without. He always like to imagine that he was the one who people looked up to, the one who would be missed if he left, the one who people always wanted to be friends with, and who always ended up saving those friends.

Instead he had been the one who was the victim. The one who was constantly possessed by the villain and couldn't stand up for himself. He was the person who was aloud to constantly be pushed around, and was considered a traitor because of his dark side.

And then, when he had finally started to be the hero for someone, he had that taken away when his brother had stopped needing him. When his brother stopped to consider what his part in all of this was. Why he couldn't do the brave thing and go and tell Yami Yugi about his daughter, and tell his brother, and tell Kida.

Was there something about him that made him easy to kick around?

****

My Hikari, you do not want me to answer that. Bakura said from the Millenium Ring.

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I hate you. Ryou scowled at his yami mentally.

****

No you don't. You know you love me.

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Are you implying that I'm gay?

****

Why, would that be wrong?

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…You evil, stupid, sexy spirit.

****

I love you, too.

A/N: I bet you weren't expecting that! HAHAHAHAHA! I DID A RYOU/KURA MOMENT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Okay, I know that the chapter wasn't that long, but I really am still trying to get over writer's block, so don't black me. I hope you all enjoyed my first sad attempt at slash. I just couldn't resist. I was gonna make Ryou love Tea, but I didn't know how to write that, so I just stuck in some Ryou/Bakura.

(Remo Con can be heard cheering loudly in background)


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: I love reviewers, They love me, Let's go yell to everybody, That I definitely do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! (Sing this to the Barney theme song. shivers That's something I never thought I'd write.)_

A/N: Hi. Erm, I'm sorry I waited so long to update... but, anyway, I wrote in my bio that it may take longer than normal to update, so don't be mad at me for waiting so long. I'm not so sure that this chapter is good, but it's no worse than the other chapters, so, well, uh, okay...

**Chapter Twelve**

"Everything," Tea stated. "That puzzle was the thing that first started all of this, the thing that made it possible.

"That puzzle was the thing that got Yugi killed." Kida looked at her in shock. "Well," Tea said, "not exactly _killed_, but it's as close as being sent to the Shadow Realm gets."

Now Kida was thoroughly confused. "Shadow Realm?" she questioned, "What's that?"

"It's a horrible place," Yami said. Everyone turned towards him, and he continued. "The Shadow Realm is a dark plane where stolen souls are sent, and where evil spirits dwell. In the Shadow Realm one has to face their darkest fears, and are tormented until insane, and still more afterwards."

Rirsi rolled his eyes, "And you expect us all to believe you? And besides, who exactly are you for us to have any reason to trust you?"

Yami turned his crimson gaze on him, glaring. "If you do not believe me, ask you brother or the Tomb Robber." Yami paused for a moment before a small smile found its way to his lips, "Then again, maybe you shouldn't. Bakura can be very protective of the Shadows."

"Damn straight," a voice came from the shadows.

There were a few things Seto Kaiba never thought he would do in his life. And now he had managed to do basically all of them. First he had intentionally helped his rival: Yami Yugi. And now he was in the middle of numbers two and three.

"Kaiba, why da 'ell are we 'ere?" Question one agitated Joey Wheeler.

He put on his traditional 'I'm-the-lucky-bastard-who-thinks-the-lottery-is-like-a-crappy-allowance' smirk. "Oh, come on, Wheeler, don't you want to know why I would ever want to talk to someone like you- who isn't even smart enough to be a cashier?"

"Why I oughta---!" Joey shook his fist menacingly at Kaiba and took a step forward. He was held back by Tristen and Duke, who had also been called to meet with Kaiba.

Besides them Mai, Serenity, and Marik also stood: listening, but doing their own thing. Mai was admiring all of the fancy crap lying around Seto's office, almost as if she was in a mall, hoping to find something that she could buy that was in her budget. Serenity was just standing off in the corner of the room, blushing as she watched her brother and Seto fight. Marik was being, well, Marik-ish. He was playing with his gold earrings with his right hand, and absently tracing the Millenium Rob with the other.

"Calm down, man!" Tristen yelled. He hadn't changed much over the years. He was still best friends with Joey, and still pining after Serenity along with Duke.

"Yeah, you don't want us to get kicked out cause you're acting like a retarded monkey, do you?" Duke yelled, trying- and yet failing miserably- to make Joey settle down.

All Duke succeeded in doing was getting Joey pissed at him instead of Kaiba. "What da 'ell, man! Who're ya callin' a damn retarded monkey! Ya bastard!" Oh, yeah. Joey had lost it.

"Um, not you?" Duke's hands were raised up defensively in front of him, and he looked slightly freaked out (and slightly wimpy).

For some reason, Joey actually bought that. "Oh, 'kay, man." He turned back to Kaiba and said seriously, "Okay, Kaiba, will ya just tell us why we're 'ere?"

Seto decided that teasing Joey would be very fun right then. "Well, I don't know. After that I'm not sure that I even remember why I called you all here," he said, smirking.

Joey was steaming all over again, and now his voice had reached new levels of Loud. Yeah, Loud, with a capital L. "YOU FRIGIN' BASTARD! I OUGHTA KICK YOUR FUCKIN' ASS RIGHT NOW, YOU DAMN ASSHOLE!"

Kaiba smirk widened, "Just kidding, Wheeler."

Joey hadn't really calmed down much, but he managed to keep his voice down. "Well you, Asshole, you betta jus' tell 's righ' now."

"I found your old friend Tea. You know: the cheerleader who ran off after Battle City? The one who made the Pharaoh go into Depressing La-La Land?" Seto knew they knew exactly whom he was talking about. The only thing he wasn't sure of right then was _why_ he was telling them.

When he didn't get a response right away, he continued: "So, do you want to know where she lives, or are you all just going to stand there until I finally kick you out?"

Joey stuttered, "Y-y-yeah, k-kay K-K-Kaiba. Erm, ah, thanks." He paused, then asked. "Wait a sec, if ya call'd 's 'ere ta tell 's that, then why'd ya call Marik?"

"Because, if you find her then you'll find the Pharaoh, and I know that he's been dying to talk to him for a while, so I decided 'What the hell? I've already destroyed my pride for the day, why not keep killing it?'" A strange response, by Joey excepted it.

"All right then," Tristen said. "Give us the address and we'll be on our way."

"Actually," Seto said, "I think I'll come."

Twenty Minutes Ago

**Hikari,** Bakura began, **we should most likely go and find our brother.**

Ryou sighed mentally. _You're right. We don't know what kind of trouble he could possibly get himself into. And if he gets in trouble, it's us that'll be paying the consequences._ He paused for a moment. _Man, that sucks._

**You said it, hikari. You said it.**

There was silence for a moment before Ryou began, _I guess that we should get going. It's a ten-minute drive to Tea's house, and Rirsi's been gone for half an hour. He's probably been there for a while now if we wait any longer I don't wanna think about what Tea'll do to us._

**Then we'll ride the shadows.**

_What? I'm sorry, luv, but I don't get it._

**Just let me take over for a while. I promise that we'll be there in no time.**

Ryou wasn't sure why he trusted his dark side. It probably had to do with the fact that he was in love with Kura, but Ryou wasn't sure. _All right, but make sure that I can still see what's happening, okay?_

**Right.** There was a flash and they switched places: Ryou looking out of the Ring, and Bakura inhabiting the body.

Then everything felt cold. Ryou couldn't see. For a minute Ryou thought that Bakura had gone back on his word and blocked him out. Suddenly, though, he could see and hear again, and it felt warm.

Ryou saw many familiar faces: Tea, his brother, Kida, and Yami Yugi!

"If you do not believe me, ask you brother or the Tomb Robber." Ryou heard Yami say to Rirsi, "Then again, maybe you shouldn't. Bakura can be very protective of the Shadows."

"Damn straight," Ryou heard to voice come from inside him: Bakura.

A/N: Okay, it's August and I'm not even in school. What excuse do I have for not updating? Absolutely none. The only excuse I have is: I'm lazy, and I don't care. Well, the I don't care part is kinda untrue, I mean, sometimes I do care that most people think I'm a lazy creep... but only sometimes. Right now the only thing I care about is that you REVIEW! REAVIEW! and REVIEW A WHOLE LOT!


	13. Chapter 13

__

Disclaimer: I don't, and most likely never will, own Yu-Gi-Oh. In fact, there is no chance I ever will unless Kazuki Takahashi dies and I turn out to be his long lost American child.

A/N: Writer's block be damned! I don't care if I can't think of one frickin' thing to write about! I'm just gonna write this chapter an get it over with! That way, all of those poor people who are reading this story will actually get to see how it ends!

****

Chapter Thirteen

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What are you doing, Kura? Ryou's mental voice was weak- and maybe even slightly annoyed.

****

I'm just letting the Pharaoh know we're here. See? It's just a little favor I'm doing for him so that he won't have to use those rusty Shadow Powers of his to try and sense me. Bakura replied. Ryou could practically here him smirking.

__

Right. Ryou said unconvincingly. _I really believe that the arch enemy of the Pharaoh is really just trying to do him an innocent favor, and he's not really just trying to make a dramatic entrance. Like he always does… even though most of them aren't that dramatic._

Bakura glared. **Stupid hikari.**

Ryou smiled cheekily. _But you know you love me._

Bakura ignored his lighter half's comment and waited for Yami's response.

It was an interesting situation that Tristen found himself in. Here he was, sitting in Seto Kaiba's limousine and heading towards the house of a friend whom he hadn't seen in a dozen years.

"We dere ye'?" he heard Joey ask. Joey was anxious to get there; Tristen could see the perspiration rolling down his temple, and he could sense his friend's discomfort.

"Yeah, Kaiba," he put in, "what's taking so long? I thought that this was gonna be a short drive."

He heard a frustrated sigh come from the young billionaire. "We should be arriving shortly." Kaiba said in an aggravated tone. "Tea-" Tristen could tell he was uncomfortable addressing her that way: almost as if he was a friend, "lives in an apartment building on the edge of town, room 247. Second floor."

For the first time Marik spoke. "Why'd you tell us first?" he asked, "Why didn't you tell the Pharaoh before us? Last I heard he had basically gone into a catatonic state. Bordering depressing and isolating himself."

Kaiba smirked knowingly. "I did tell him. I only called you after he had left my office."

"Wha!" Joey exclaimed. "Ya bastard! I'm gonna kill ya as soon as I get ma hands on ya!"

Tristen held his friend back, and turned to Kaiba. "Why didn't you tell us that you told the Pharaoh?" he asked. There was no reason for Kaiba to hide anything from them.

Kaiba smirked again. "You never asked."

It took Yami a moment to register what had happened. "Tomb Robber?" he asked. He hadn't seen Bakura in years, and he had assumed that he was still trapped in the Shadows after their duel on the blimp.

"The one and only." Bakura replied. "Then again," he said sarcastically, "I suppose that- since Ryou's my reincarnation- there are two of me. But, hey, who's counting?"

That was odd. Bakura hadn't tried to kill him yet. This new world was very strange…

"Kura?" A voice broke Yami's train of thought. For a moment, he didn't recognize the voice, then he registered it as Rirsi, Ryou's younger brother. "What're you doing here? Did something happen to Ryou?"

Rirsi's voice showed concern. He obviously cared a lot for his brother. And he obviously could tell the difference between him and the Tomb Robber.

"No, Raku Jr.," Bakura replied, "nothing's wrong with the hikari. We just decided that it would be a good idea to try to come and stop you from interrogating Tea. You know, if you do anything wrong she's going to take it out on me."

Yami was now deeply immersed in confusion. Raku Jr.? Where the hell did that nickname come from?

Bakura noticed his blank stare and smirked. "Want me to help clarify? Rakuru was my younger brother's name. Rirsi here's his reincarnation." He patted Rirsi's hair affectionately. "Luckily, he wasn't turned into the wuss Ryou was."

Yami could now see Ryou's spirit form outside of the Ring. _Wuss? Come on, Kura! Don't you love me anymore?_

****

Course, pet. Bakura replied. **But you're still a wuss.**

Hm. Bakura and Ryou. Ryou and Bakura. For some reason that didn't sound quite as disgusting as he had thought it would. Then again, he had kind of thought that there was something going on between them…

"Okay, _now _I'm really confused." Kida's voice brought them all back to the original subject. "I want to know what the **hell** you're talking about, and I wanna know NOW!"

"Watch your language, young lady!" Tea scolded her. "You're eleven years old, and do _not_ need to use such profanity!"

Wow. This was a side of Tea Yami and never seen. And for some reason he found it very attractive.

"Al_right_, Mom. Sheash, don't have a heart attack on me!" Kida had apparently lost her composure somewhere along the way. Goodbye nice, mature young lady, and hello girl who is approaching her teenage years. "Just, please, tell me what's going on."

Tea sighed. "I guess we really did get off the subject…"

And at that exact moment in time the door decided it would be fun to burst open.

A man with shoulder-length blond hair rushed into the room. Two other men followed him. One was extremely tall and had chestnut brown hair; he didn't seem too excited about being there. The other had darker brown hair that ended in a strange point; he was about the same height as the blond, but had a look to him that made you automatically think 'loser'.

After them four others followed. Two women: one looked shy and the other kind of looked like a hooker; two men: both were very hot, one looked kind of dice themed, and the other looked like the kind of guy who could be Hollywood's hottest bachelor.

All in all they kind of reminded Kida of the Scooby Gang.

"Tea?" the blond questioned. His eyes came to the rest of the group. "Yami? Bakura?" He paused for a moment. "Uh… Mini Bakura? Lil' girl copy a da Pharaoh?"

She glared at him, "Kida."

"Righ'…" he mumbled. His eyes turned back towards Tea. "Hey, Tea… is dere some sorta reunion goin' on ere dat I di'n't know 'bout?"

Tea let out a small laugh, and a bitter smile touched her lips. "No, Joey." She said. "There isn't. It's just a lot of people who picked the same day to start asking questions."

A/N: Ha ha: another short chapter! And something not so shocking, I still want a ton of reviews for no good reason other than the fact that I'm a greedy, selfish girl! Ain't that wonderful?


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: I must say that I do not, did not, will not own Yu-Gi-Oh as long as Kazuki Takahashi and/or his living relatives are on this Earth. (Cause, you know, if they're alive there's no way in hell I'm ever gonna be able to gain the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh without resorting to blackmail.)_

A/N: This story is fast approaching its end. I'm sorry if I've kind of strayed from my original plot, but I'm still pretty close, and besides, it's going way better than it would have if I had continued it as I had before. Besides, you guys didn't know what I was going to do so you aren't losing anything and I'm not sure I remember what I was going to do at the beginning anyways.

**Chapter Fourteen**

_In this world there are almost never explanations for our destiny. We simply are chosen- by whatever powers that rule- to complete it._

_Some people have roles that will impact the lives of many people: they could be a senator, president, king or queen, a religious leader, or a well-known entertainer. Others may make a smaller impact, perhaps in the role of a teacher. But everyone still makes a difference. _

_But, as before explained, some people make more a difference. Sometimes they do it more than once._

Shadi had never been one to believe in coincidences. No, he only believed in destiny. So he knew that it was most likely fated that it was on this day, a day marked quite clearly in his books of the Nameless Pharaoh's history, that this was happening.

5,000 years to the day, this same event had occurred.

"It's ironic, really," Tea's voice was quivering, "how whenever you try to run from something it's always the thing that manages to find you.

"I tried to run away from you," she said, looking at all of her old friends, "but that didn't work out too well, now did it?"

"Tea, what're ya-?" Tea cut Joey off.

"What am I talking about?" she asked him. Her gaze was cold as ice, but her voice was full of raw emotion. "Of course, you couldn't put two and two together." She looked over the rest of the crowd, "None of you could."

Tristen spoke for the first time since entering the apartment: "Tea, why did you run?" he- being the dumbest of all of the gang- had absolutely no clue what was happening. He never really could tell when his friends were upset, or what had upset them.

She rested her gaze on him and shook her head. "I knew it, no matter how easy I try to make it for you, you just don't get it." Tea looked over at the rest of them. "But some of you do."

Seto nodded his head. "It makes sense." Then he smirked, "I just made 1000 more yen."

Tea raised an eyebrow, and Seto's smirk grew, "I bet Mocuba 1000 yen that you and the Pharaoh were going at it behind your friend's backs."

At this Yami and Tea went red; Joey looked like he was trying to figure out what was going on; Tristen was totally oblivious; Serenity and Mai were standing off quietly in a corner, observing the conversation; Duke was standing near a doorway, leaning against a wall (he really didn't know why he had come, and now he was enjoying the show from a side- and taping it with a video camera that no one had noticed); Seto and Marik were smirking at Yami and Tea: Seto loving that he was right and Marik enjoying the Pharaoh's humiliation.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten about Kida and Rirsi. Rirsi was calmly absorbing the knowledge that was being thrown around in his friend's apartment, while Kida was struggling the urge to run into her room and try to sort things out herself.

She turned to Rirsi. "Rirsi what's happening?" her voice was quivering, and she had a sad look in her eyes: hurt and confusing along with frustration and anger. But Rirsi most noticed her fear.

He put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture, and she leaned into the open arms. This cause Rirsi to blush brightly, but he didn't remove his arms, instead he moved up the other in a light hug.

He sighed softly, "I'm not sure," Rirsi paused a moment, "but from what I can tell it's basically a very strange high school reunion." His attempt to lighten the mood hadn't worked. Instead, he felt Kida hug herself closer to him, causing Rirsi's blush to once again blush brightly.

"Rirsi," she whispered, "I don't know what to do."

Rirsi swallowed hard. Kida had never been one to admit that she had a problem, and she very seldom did. Kida had always been strong, emotionally: she had never given into bullying (which was slightly because of Rirsi, who never let any bully get to close to her), and she had seemed to always know the answers to everything.

Now that she had actually admitted she didn't know what to do, Rirsi was sure that he would never know. But that didn't mean that he couldn't trying to comfort his best friend.

"Don't worry," he told Kida, "Everything will be okay soon," he bent down and kissed her forehead lightly, "I promise."

**Aww, look at 'em! They're so CUTE!** Bakura mental voice rang out through Ryou's head.

_Kura, what're you talking about?_ Ryou asked his yami. _I see nothing cute about Yami and Tea or Kaiba or Joey or Tristen or Duke_

Bakura sighed in a you-are-such-an-idiot-why-do-I-love-you? kind of way. **No, luv, I mean Raku Jr. and the Pharaoh's girl!**

Ryou looked over to the corner where he had last seen them, only to see a very Care Bears sight: Kida and Rirsi hugging, with Rirsi kissing Kida's forehead (both of them were definitely blushing, all though they couldn't see each other). _Oh dear_**** Ryou said sarcastically, _I do believe that we may, sadly, become IN-LAWS with the Pharaoh._

Bakura looked horrified. Ryou laughed- giggled, really- at his yami. _God, Kura, you're such a fuddy duddy. _

Bakura stuck his tongue out at his light side, **And you look like a girl.**

Ryou glared playfully, _If I do, then so do you!_

Bakura snorted, **I doubt it.**

_Oh, I do believe I've hit a nerve!_ Ryou said.

Bakura glared at Ryou, then smirked, **If we look slightly feminine then what do you suppose Marik is? I do believe that that would make him full on woman.**

Ryou couldn't contain his laughter at this, and soon he was rolling around the floor, laughing like a maniac.

Lucky for both of them no one noticed.

From her comfortable spot in Rirsi's arms Kida watch as her mother and the strangers talk until they got up to the point where a the tallest of the group said, " I bet Mocuba 1000 yen that you and the Pharaoh were going at it behind your friend's backs."

She froze for a moment, and then stepped quickly away from Rirsi causing him to trip and fall on his ass, but she didn't bother to apologize. "What the hell?" she shouted out. "What're you talking about, and why the hell to you keep talking about some 'Pharaoh'?"

Tea turned to Kida and said gently, "Kida, honey," but she didn't finish as Rirsi decided to stand up for Kida.

"Ms. Gardner, why don't you just tell us what's going on? Don't you think that we deserve to know? I mean, this conversation does kind of seem to involve Kida, seeing a you're her mother, and that guy," he said, pointing at Yami, "I'm thinking, is her father!"

A/N: Okay, it's over! Actually, no, I'm combining two short chapters to make one longer one, so, please, keep reading!

There was a deafening silence spreading throughout the apartment. No one spoke, most were unable and the others didn't feel it was their place to speak.

After Rirsi had made his little 'announcement', Kida had been lost in her own thoughts. How could that man be her father? How could Rirsi have known? Why hadn't he told her- for that matter, why hadn't her _mother_ told her?

But then it made sense. If she had thought about it she would have noticed the similarity in their appearances: their hair and eye color. The man- Yami, she recalled- looked about the same age as her mother, and he had definitely known her before now.

But he hadn't known about _her_. Kida's father obviously hadn't known about her. She could tell from his expression: he looked slightly out of it, but at the same time his emotions played out clearly in his eyes. He looked hurt, confused, and slightly agitated. But at the same time, she could see the happiness, the joy, as well.

It was then that she realized that Rirsi was staring at her. Rirsi he had known that Yami was her father. He had known that Yami was her father and hadn't found the time to tell her. Why?

"Rirsi," her voice trembled, "how could you?" He looked at her with confusion. She raised her eyes to meet his, and her temper rose with them.

"How could you," her voice started to get louder, "How could you not tell me?" she was almost shouting now: "Didn't you think that I had a right to know? You just gave us a nice little speech about how I 'deserved to know the truth' and all, and YOU were the one who wasn't telling me what I 'deserved to know!'"

Rirsi looked hurt, "Kida, I didn't really" he stopped himself.

"Didn't really what, Rirsi?"

"I just forgot." Rirsi sounded ashamed, and he looked it. But that didn't dull Kida's rage.

"Forgot! How could you _forget_ something like that!" Kida glared at Rirsi. "Was it not _important_ enough for you to bother remembering?"

Rirsi looked like he was going to cry, but he swallowed hard, and then replied calmly. "I only figured it out earlier today."

Rirsi's voice was hard, almost emotionless. It scared Kida: she had never seen him like this. At first he had been a shy, sweet little boy; then he had been the outrageous and humorous guy. Right then he sounded more like a _shell_ of Rirsi.

He continued. "When I got here I was going to ask your mom why she hadn't told you about him, but there was too much already going on. He was actually here, and so were you. Then it all went to fast, I just lost track of what was happening."

Kida had already forgotten her anger, and now she only felt guilt. She knew that, if she had been Rirsi, she would have done the exact same thing.

"Oh my God," Kida gazed sadly at her friend, "I'm so sorry. I just I lost my temper. I just didn't know how to react. I mean" she couldn't find words to describe how she felt. She had grown up not knowing her father, and she had been fine with that. Then just having him thrust into her life like that, she just didn't know what to do.

Rirsi gave her a tiny smile. "It's alright. I understand." He stepped weakly towards his friend and gently wrapped his arms around her. Apology accepted.

Tea watched the scene quietly. She knew that if she was going to leave, now was her chance: she could get out of explaining everything, forget her responsibilities and just run away like she did last time.

That was when she realized it. She had been stupid, she had run away from her problem and done nothing but hurt her friends and herself. She had left her friends at a time when she really needed them, and when they really needed her.

But she had been scared. When Yugi was sent to the Shadow Realm, she felt that her friendship with everyone had been broken. She knew that if it wasn't for Yugi she would never have become a friend with Tristen or Joey, and he had been her link to just about everyone else. Without Yugi everything just felt wrong.

Then again, maybe not. She knew that it was Yugi who had helped their friendship together, but had it really been him that had kept them together? Yes and no: of course he had been there to help smooth out the bumps and gashes, but it hadn't just been him. Tristen and Joey had helped; comic relief wasn't always as useless as people would expect.

And so had she. She had always been the one to tell everyone how important their friendship was, and that they should never abandon one another in a tough situation. And then she had done just that. Run away when the road got to tough to travel instead of slowly making her way through the obstacles that it provided.

But just because she had strayed from the course didn't mean she could find her way back onto the right path.

They stood there silently for a few moments, then Kida gently pulled away. She looked at everyone else in the room, and they stared back at her. She swallowed. "I guess that kind of explains everything. Sort of."

She turned to Yami, who was looking at her with shock and happiness. "I'm assuming that you didn't know about this either?" He shook his head. "I didn't think so." She turned to her mother and said: "Since we've all got the basic picture now, why don't you fill in the blanks?"

A blinding flash of light cut off whatever Tea might have said. Slowly, the light faded and a figure was seen, now standing in the middle of the group. "Most likely," a voice stated, "it would be best if I explained"

Kida could now clearly see the figure: it was a man. He wore long, than robes and a matching turban. He had tanned skin and milky blue eyes, and his presence seemed to make the rest of the room duller. His gaze flitted around the room, and then rested on her father. "To everyone."

A/N: Well that was an okay chapter. I think it was kinda weird, but I still thought that I should be proud of myself for writing it so long. And since it's so long, I want a LOT OF REVIEWS; MORE THAN NORMAL! I don't mean to be gready, but I really want people to like my story, and I reallly want to know it. I think that lately my reviewers have been slacking off. A lot: but I'm not mad, I'd just be happier if I got more reviews.

Oh, yeah, I have a question for all of you:

**_SHOULD I HAVE AN EPILOGUE?_** - Review and tell me what you think, and if you want me to have one tell me what I should focus on.


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: Ah, the beauty of fanfiction: the freedom to never have to follow a plot correctly, to never have to update when you say you will. Did I mention how wonderful it is to not own Yu-Gi-Oh? I didn't? Oh, well, now I did._

A/N: Uh… don't kill me! I didn't mean to take so long to update! And just because I did I'm gonna give you the longest chapter I can muster! Though I probably still won't finish the story… I'm getting really close, I can tell! o!

**Chapter Fifteen**

Everyone was staring at him, as if trying to figure out how he got there. Of course, Yami knew he was using shadow magic, as did Marik and Bakura. Seto thought that maybe he had been using some form of highly advanced technology to cloak himself from the rest of them and had been in the room the whole time. Everyone else there was just kind of gaping at him (or glaring, in some people's case).

Yami was the one to break the silence: "Why are you here, Shadi?" he asked, "And why now?"

Shadi simply stood there for a moment, before speaking. "As I said before, I have come to explain all of this to you all."

It was now Tea's turn to question him. "But _why?_ We could have explained well enough on our own without having to get to far into the whole 'ancient past' thing. And besides," now she was glaring, "I really don't think that this is any of your business."

Shadi smiled. "That, is where you are wrong." He turned back to Yami. "My Pharaoh," he bowed slightly, "I did not mean to intrude, but I need you all to understand, that all of this was preordained by the Gods."

A wave of confusion spread around the room. "What?" This was said by Kida. "I'm a little confused now. 'Preordained'? 'Gods'? Why won't you people say something that isn't cryptic and/ or morbid sounding!"

Shadi now faced Kida, still smiling. "Ah, my Princess. It is good to see that you are in good health." His eyes pierced hers, as if looking into her soul. His smile faded. "It seems that you are ready."

He reached into his cloak and brought out a small set of golden colored scales. On them the Eye of Ra was delicately carved into the front. Shadi held out his hands to her.

Before she could stop herself, Kida had swiped the scales from him. Suddenly, they started glowing, blinding everyone in the room.

Kida blinked… or, at least, tried to. She could feel hot grains of sand beneath her, burning her, but at the same time comforting her. The sun beat down against her back, and she thought vaguely that she might get sunburned. Her thoughts were clouded, and she could not bring herself to move. No- she couldn't make herself, even if she had truly wanted to.

She once again tried to open her eyes, and succeeded. Sadly, all she could see was a blurry outline of everything. She slowly blinked a few times, and each time her few came slightly more into focus. Finally, she could once again see.

Around her lay everyone who had been in the apartment when… she couldn't quite figure out why they were here. No, she did not have a clue as to why she was in the middle of a desert surrounded by a lot of people- most of which, she didn't even know.

Closest to her was Rirsi, who was lying about six inches away from her, looking like he was asleep. Beside him was his brother and her mother, and next to her, her father.

Her father… could she really think of his as such? Was he even really her father, or was her mother mistaking him for someone else? She must admit, the similarities between her and Yami were quite unmistakable. So, for the moment, she would chose to believe him. And she would hope that she would not be disappointed by lies.

Rirsi started to stir, and, slowly, he opened his eyes. He gazed at her for a moment before choking out, "What the hell just happened?"

Kida choked down a laugh at his blunt comment (and the fact he was now spitting out a mouthful of sand), and answered seriously: "I don't know, but it seems that we're in a desert." Okay, maybe there was a little sarcasm in her voice, but still, she meant it.

"That is a correct assumption, my Princess." A voice broke into their conversation. Kida tried to sit up, and found that she could now move without much difficulty. She looked over and saw the man- Shadi, she thought- who had given her that strange set of scales.

It was then that it clicked- the scales! That must have been what brought everyone there… wherever that was. She also then noticed the 'princess comment'. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and contemplation. "Excuse me, but where are we? And why do you keep calling me Princess?"

Shadi looked at her, smiling slightly. "I call you Princess because that is what you are- the daughter of the great pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, where we now reside."

Kida looked at him, eyes wide. "What?" she could barely bring herself to speak, "Egypt? _Ancient_ Egypt!" She rubbed her eyes. "This makes no sense, how could we be in Ancient Egypt- it isn't possible?"

Kida felt a hand on her shoulder and whirled around. Behind her she saw her father. He was, like Shadi, smiling. "Oh, but it is." His look became wistful, "Egypt, how I have longed to once again be with her great sands."

She heard someone chuckle. "Yes, Pharaoh, you must have really missed this place- I mean, come on? Who can resist having thousands of people waving, bowing, and cheering for you every time you go somewhere?"

"Come on, you know you missed it, too! After all, weren't these you 'glory days' as the King of Thieves, tomb robbers, and any other thing evil?" was her father's sarcastic reply.

She looked over and realized that it was Ryou who was talking. That made absolutely no sense to her, but she continued to listen to their conversation with interest- after all, what else was there to do?

"Ah, yes, those were the days! Stealing, pillaging, murdering, having vengeful feelings towards you and attempting to kill you every other day- that was the life!" Yami glared at 'Ryou', and he smiled insanely. "Oh come on, Pharaoh, I know you enjoyed it, too!"

This earned him a grin. "Well, admittedly, yes. It was rather enjoyable!" Now both of the men were laughing at their 'fond memories'. (A/N: In my fic Yami will have memories of his past until the age of seventeen- when Kida was born and right after Bakura stopped being evil, at least in my fic.)

Kida looked at them weirdly. "I think that I'm missing something."

Tea groggily lifted up her head, and than swiftly laid it back down, clutching it with her hands. She desperately tried to escape the headache that was grasping at her, ripping its fierce claws into her head and nearly driving her mad.

Slowly but surely, the pain faded. It was then that she began to hear the voices around her: "…-ling, pillaging, murdering, having vengeful feelings towards you and attempting to kill you every other day…." "…yes. It was rather enjoyable!"

Tea assumed that that was Bakura and Yami, judging by the topic sentence. Then she heard another voice. "I think I'm missing something." It was Kida.

Tea bolted upwards and ignored the aching feeling that was once again attempting to control her mind. She saw Kida look over at her, just now noticing that she had awoken. She felt her heart sink at the pleading look in her daughter's eyes- they were just begging for someone to tell her what was happening.

Tea had never seen her like this. Kida had always been the strong one, something which Tea had often been ashamed of, but she had gotten used to always have other people to support her, and suddenly having that wrenched away from her was horrifying.

To her, Kida had been a source of constant comfort and balance, but she had also been a reminder of the past that she had shared with the rest of the gang. But that hadn't mattered to her, because with her daughter she knew that she was never alone, and would always have someone to love whom loved her back.

Tea admitted that now she felt guilty, for she had been using her daughter for her own selfish purposes. Although it had not effected how Kida was over all raised, it did slightly change the atmosphere that a small child- or any child, for that matter- should grow up with.

"Mom?" Kida's voice broke her out of her thoughts, and back into the present time. (A/N: Yes, that pun was intended!) "What's going on?" her daughter's voice sounded tired and worn, not the voice of your average eleven year old.

Tea looked at the sand, smiling sadly to herself. "I'm not even sure anymore." She glanced up at the sky, only to look down again after having her eyes burned by the sun. "I'm not really sure."

Rirsi glanced at his best friend, hoping to be reassured by her face that she was, indeed, fine. His hopes plummeted as he looked upon her face; she looked frustrated and confused, and extremely tired. She did not seem to be a child who was having a few family problems, but more like an adult who had just come to realize that there was no such thing as the fantasy world that movies made it seem there was. There weren't always happy endings. Rirsi could only pray that this story would end with one.

A/N: Well, I'm not really sure if this was quite the chapter that you had all been hoping for. It wasn't that long and only slightly pushed the plot forward. But there were still two very important factors in the story:

Kida was the possessor of the Millenium Scales.

Everyone is now in Ancient Egypt, where the conclusion of this story will really happen.

Okay! I really, truly am extremely sorry. So I promise that I will post the next chapter as soon as I can (as long as I know that there are still people actually reading my story… if not it may take a while… of course if no one is reading this than no one would care if I didn't update)! So plz, R&R!


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer: (Sung to the tune of "Amazing Grace") Amazing grace, how sweet the lawyers/ that keep me from owing Yu-Gi-Oh/I once was Kazuki Takahashi/ and thus, owned Yu-Gi-Oh/ I was lying when I said that/ so please don't sue me/ I'm just a poor fanfiction writer/ and I know I own nothing. END._

A/N: Heh, heh. I liked that disclaimer.

**Chapter Sixteen**

"If you would like," said Shadi, "I could help you understand." He looked at her pointedly. "I cannot help but feel it is my duty, Princess. I know what you have been put through, and I wish to give you whatever explanation the Pharaoh sees fit." Shadi glanced at Yami, "But I do not wish to be to much involved, for I know that it is not my place to interfere."

Kida looked at him gratefully. "I would like that very much." She sounded relieved. "It is nice that someone is finally taking the time to explain to me what is happening… and I know that you will not lie to me." She smiled lightly, "Thank you."

He nodded. "It is only right that you know, for no one deserved the unhappiness that confusion can bring." He paused for a moment, "And I do believe that this situation has gotten a bit out of hand.

"A millennia ago, there was a great a powerful Pharaoh, who ruled over Upper and Lower Egypt. I his fifteenth year a Great War broke out between the Pharaoh and those who opposed him. It was known as the Ultimate Shadow Game; it was now fought who soldiers, oh no, but with evil creatures summoned from the Shadow Realm.

"The best words I can find to describe the Shadow Realm would most likely be… hell- the most horrible and torturous place that a human could ever think of being sent. In the Shadow Realm a man could be tortured with physical pain, as well as emotional and spiritual trials that would drive him insane within hours.

"It was the Shadows themselves which inflicted this pain; no one knows why, but some suspect that either the Shadows are offended by a human's intrusion into their home, or just possibly because they are so demented that they enjoy it. I myself believe it to be the later- and there are very few exceptions.

"There are actually only two people known who the Shadows actually seem to obey- and they are both standing right in front of you." Kida looked around, confused, and Shadi smiled. "Those two are the Thief King Bakura: the spirit which inhabits Ryou Bakura's body, and the Great Pharaoh Atemu: your father."

Kida's eyes widened. She had thought that her father was Yami! She decided to voice her opinion. "But, Shadi, I thought that Yami," she glanced over at the man with tri-colored hair, much like her own, "was my father."

Shadi smiled amusedly. "He is. The Pharaoh's true name is Atemu, but for the longest time he could not remember, and so the young Yugi Motou gave him the name 'Yami', which, as you know, means 'dark'."

"Who's Yugi Motou?" Kida questioned him. For some reason, this explanation was a little more than she had thought she was going to get from a man wearing a robe and a turban (which looked remarkably like a bed sheet wrapped around his head).

"He was the young boy whom was reincarnated from the Pharaoh." Kida noticed that her father looked extremely sad at the mention of this boy. "What happened to him?" she asked.

Yami spoke before Shadi could. "Do you remember who Marik is?" Kida couldn't quite figure out what that had to do with anything, but she nodded, remembering the (hot) man with platinum blond hair who had been standing in the apartment with them earlier. Come to think of it… where were they? Kida pushed the question to the back of her mind when she heard Yami continue.

"About twelve years ago- a little more than that if I remember correctly- Marik tried to steel my Millenium Puzzle, and my power." Kida stared at him blankly, and Yami sighed. "During that time, I had been trapped in the Millenium Puzzle."

Deciding to further explain himself, he attempted to sum up what Shadi had started to tell her earlier. "Well, five thousand years ago, after the Great War, I sealed away the Shadows, and in doing so trapped myself and Bakura in the Millenium Items. After all those years, I couldn't really remember anything of my past… not even my name. It was actually several years after Battle City that I finally figured everything out, but that has nothing to do with what I am telling you now.

"About, oh I'd say, maybe two years before then, Yugi solved the Millenium Puzzle. In doing so he released my spirit, although he didn't realize that he had. It was the end of Duelist Kingdom before he figured out who I was." Yami stared wistfully of into space, seemingly lost in his own memories. He didn't seem to even realize that he was speaking now.

"During that time I remember being very confused- everything around me was unfamiliar, and I was constantly trapped in the labyrinth of my own mind until Yugi summoned me from the puzzle. Normally only to duel, or something of the sort."

While her father continued, Kida attempted to absorb all of the information. He kept telling her about all sorts of old duel tournaments, and what had happened from his own perspective in them. Since she was interested in dueling, Kida remembered that she had actually read a little about most of them. Duelist Kingdom, she remembered, had been hosted by none other than the creator of the game, Maximillion Pegasus.

She also remembered that he had been beaten by a novice named Yugi Motou, who was crowned the King of Games. It was said that he had never lost his title, because even though he no longer participated in the larger tournaments, every once in a while he would do a smaller tournament, and be the "Grand Prize": the winner would get to duel him for his title.

She frowned, that was the same boy who had possessed the Puzzle? Did that mean that it wasn't truly Yugi who had been the Game King, but her father? Her brows furrowed. It seemed that everything had gone from an average/normal day to a journey into her father's past- a father who she hadn't even known about until today.

Tea listened intently to the former Pharaoh. She had never really heard about everything from his point of view. All she had known were the vague details that you got from always being on the sideline. But from just standing to the side and watching you aren't going to learn much.

Soon, she had heard all about Duelist Kingdom from Yami's P.O.V. She realized that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't the strong, all around invincible person that the Gang had thought. He was human (in a sense), just like them.

But what really struck Tea was the emotion in his voice. She herself had never really heard him speak this way. She had only heard the mysterious, sexy, yet disconnected spirit of the Millenium Puzzle. She sighed inwardly, maybe there wasn't all that much that she really knew about him, after all. Wouldn't you have thought that she would have, of all people, known something about him?

A/N: HAH, HAH! It's SHORT! Nah, nah! Okay, I'll stop now and get to the serious(er) author's notes.

Well, there you go. I've finally started the actual explanation. This chapter I went over Yami's past in Egypt, Duelist Kingdom (sorta…), and given a slightly bit about Battle City. In the next chapter I'll try to give the in depth B.C. explanation.

Okay, I'm sure you're all wondering by now why the hell they're in the past. I mean, they're already explaining everything to Kida, and after they're done there's nothing else to learn, right? WRONG! Like I said earlier, Yami only has memories of the first half of him life. At age seventeen they just kinda go 'Splat' and disappear. I'm going to get into that soon.

Well, this story will most likely have about twenty chapters. That's a lot longer than I had earlier intended (it was gonna be, like, ten), but that's OKAY! -! So, I'll just say R&R, and I'll update as soon as possible!


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: Don't own YGO. DUH!_

A/N: you'll all kill me after this chapter. Heh.

**Chapter Seventeen**

It didn't seem right. All of this, being shoved on her like she would be able to handle all of it. This wasn't what she wanted to hear, no she just wanted to hear the comforting words of her mother, telling her everything was all right, and that none of this was real. (A/N: heh, heh)

So she waited. Waited for them to finish what they were telling her. It wasn't until she stood in front of a great palace that she even noticed they had been moving.

For some reason, they entered. They just walked right in and no one noticed them. They were traveling through halls that she, for some reason, recognized, but it seemed like a vague memory, like she was dreaming and was having a hard time really remembering anything…

They came into the view of a grand hall, where the walls rose so high you could barely see the ceiling without become dizzy. Great pillars supported the structure, and a pale red carpet ran through the room up towards a large throne.

Around it was draped many tapestries and golden banners, and in the throne was a small man with very tanned skin and tri-colored spikes of hair. His crimson eyes were staring at the woman who sat in his arms, an equally tanned young girl whose short brown hair fell around her face. Her own blue eyes seemed to be glued to the man who was holding her. They then started going into what could be labeled a 'frantic make-out session'.

Kida screamed.

Kida sat up straight in her bed, still screaming. The door to her room burst open and in rushed her parents.

Kida relaxed as she felt two pairs of arms wrap around her. She nuzzled her face into an offered shoulder. "Oh, father, it was _awful_!"

"Shh, shh…" Came a soothing, deep voice. "It was only a dream, daughter."

She sniffed. "I know," she said, "b-but it was so _terrible!_" She sobbed. "I dreamed that we were all in a really strange place, and then we came back, and then I saw you and that mean Anzu lady kissing. Oh, it was _horrible!_"

"Don't worry, it was only a dream." Her father responded. "Now go back to bed." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. Not a minute later Kida fell back to sleep and her parents left the room.

"Atem," started another voice, "we need to talk."

The man now known as 'Atem' sighed. "Seth, my love, don't be displeased. It was not but a dream had by a young child."

Seth glared at his husband. "But still, _Anzu_!"

Atem sighed. "Seth, you know perfectly well that I would rather be with _Mai_ than _Anzu_." Seth didn't quite take that the way Atem had meant it.

"_Mai!_" He questioned, outraged.

Atem, once again, sighed. "No, Seth. It was a figure of speech." He took one more step towards Seth. "You know you're the only man (or woman) for me."

Atem slipped his arms around Seth's neck, quickly bringing his mouth down to his for a long and passionate kiss. This most likely would have led to… other things, if Atem had not broken it off there.

When they separated, Seth's eyes were clouded, and his mind muddled. Atem would take advantage of this. "Now, koi, listen." Seth nodded dazedly. "I love YOU. Why else would I have born your child?"

Seth smiled at Atem, and finally accepted it. "You know I'm just protective of you." He said, nuzzled Atem's neck.

"Oh yes, there's very few times where you're not afraid of hurting me… but I can think of a few times." Atem smiled flirtatiously.

Seth smirked. This would be fun.

A/N: FLAME ME IF YOU DARE! I'VE ALREADY CHANGED THE SUMMARY SO YOU CAN'T REPORT ME FOR ABUSE! SO PLZ, FORGIVE ME! I HOPE THAT, SOMEDAY, YOU'LL ALL CHANGE YOUR OPINIONS OF ME!


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